British Islam and the novel of transformation
Robin Yassin-Kassab'sThe Road from Damascus
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2178571 |
|---|---|
| Authors | C E Rashid, Catherine Rashid (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 92-103 |
| Publication date | 2012-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Postcolonial Writing (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-9855 • E-ISSN: 1744-9863 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17449855.2011.574864 |
| OpenAlex | W2097001139 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 4 |
This article analyses Robin Yassin-Kassab's debut novel, The Road from Damascus (2008). It is one of the few British novels to interrogate the opposition that has been recently constructed between "secular literature" on the one hand and "Islamic dogma" on the other. This false opposition has been a product of polarized rhetoric produced during the Satanic Verses affair. Through its reappropriated Bildungsroman form, in which the protagonist partially converts to Islam, this novel models a transformation of the self and society beyond such oppositions and beyond Islamic identity politics. Yassin-Kassab integrates Sufi narrative structures with the novel's trajectory of self-development, alluding to Ibn al-'Arabi's discourse of mystical bewilderment. In so doing The Road from Damascus epistemologically challenges the binary between Muslim and non-Muslim, secular and sacred, the imagination and religious stricture
Art · Binary opposition · Islam · Literature · Mysticism · Narrative · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sufism · Theology · Islamic Studies and History · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious Studies
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,42 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2024 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |