Bildungsroman and the Arab Novel

Through a close-reading of a corpus of novels featuring young protagonists in their path toward adulthood, the book shows how Bildungsroman impacted the formation of the Egyptian narrative. The book helps the reader to understand the key role played by the coming of age novel in the definition and perception of modern Arab subjectivity.

Maria Elena Paniconi is Associate Professor in Arabic Literature at the University of Macerata, Italy. Her research interests are the Arab Nah-a and the Bildungsnarratives in Modern and Contemporary Arab world. She wrote about nah-aw- writers and genres in JAL and Oriente Moderno. She translated into Italian the 1935 novel Ad-b by T-h- -usayn.

Introduction 1. Building the Nation, Imagining the Youth in early 20th-century Egypt 2. The Way of the Egyptian Novel: Zaynab by Muhammad Husayn Haykal 3. National Allegory and Bildungsnarrative in 'Awdat al-r-h (The Return of the Spirit) by Tawf-q al--ak-m 4. A Personal, Feminist, Anti-Colonial Awakening: al-B-b al-maft-- (The Open Door) by Lä-fa al-Zayy-t 5. The Crisis-plot: Ad-b (A Man of Letters) by --h- -usayn and Qind-l Umm H-shim (The Lamp of Umm Hashim) by Yäy- -aqq- 6. The "Disillusionment Plot" in Naj-b Mäf-- and 'Abd al--ak-m Q-sim 7. Antiphrastic Bildung and Multiple Selves in the Avant-Garde Literary Movement Epilogue Bibliography