The Uses of Geography in Youssef Ziedan&apos;s <i>Azazeel</i>

Sally Gomaa, null

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.39.4.0957

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Arab Studies Quarterly

Volume 39, Issue 4

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The Uses of Geography in Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel

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Author(s): Sally Gomaa

Publication date (Print): Fall 2017

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Youssef Ziedan, Azazeel , Arabic novel, geography, literary criticism, religious violence

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Abstract

Youssef Ziedan's controversial novel Azazeel follows an anonymous narrator's journey from Upper Egypt to Aleppo during the first half of the fifth-century AD. This article argues that descriptions of landscape enable the narrator to articulate personal and historical crises otherwise censored or repressed. By incorporating geographical features into his identity, the narrator creates a poetic version of himself free from the hegemony of the dominant religious discourse. The search for a free, private space shapes the novel's aesthetic as well as political concerns. Overall, Azazeel is an important novel because of its literary value, its denouncement of geopolitical definitions of God, and its ability to place the history of religious violence in Egypt within the global context.

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Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): arabstudquar

Title: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 02713519

ISSN (Electronic): 20436920

Publication date (Print): Fall 2017

Volume: 39

Issue: 4

Pages: 957-972

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.39.4.0957

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.39.4.0957

SO-VID: 442df35c-12d7-4dc7-815e-27fe85e15c65

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History

References

Aboul-Ela, Hosam (2003). Writer, Text and Context: The Geohistorical Location of the Post-48 Arabic Novel. Edebiyat , 14(1), 5–19.
Abu Baker, Ahmad M. S. (2015). The Problematics of Identity & Identity Erasure in Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel . Journal of Arts and Humanities , 4(12), 37–49. Web. Accessed March 26, 2017. <http://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/866/433>.
Abu Baker, Ahmad M. S. (2016). Natural Objects in Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel: An Environmental Perspective. Journal of Arts and Humanities , 5(3), 72-85. Web. Accessed March 17, 2017. <http://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/926>.
Al Arabiya News (2008). 18 September. Duktur Yūsif Zīdān al-hásil ‘alá jā'izat būkar al-‘arabīyah.’ Web. Accessed March 16, 2017. <http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/09/18/56833.html>.
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Al-Sherbini, Ramadan (2008). Muslim Scholar's Novel Angers Coptic Church. Gulf News . Web. Accessed June 24, 2015. <http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/egypt/muslim-scholar-s-novel-angers-coptic-church-1.124207>.
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Siddiq, Muhammad (2007). Arab Culture and the Novel: Genre, Identity, and Agency in Egyptian Fiction . New York: Routledge.
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Ziedan, Youssef (2012). Azazeel . Trans. Jonathan Wright. London: Atlantic Books.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Aboul-Ela, Hosam (2003). Writer, Text and Context: The Geohistorical Location of the Post-48 Arabic Novel. Edebiyat , 14(1), 5–19.

[2] Abu Baker, Ahmad M. S. (2015). The Problematics of Identity & Identity Erasure in Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel . Journal of Arts and Humanities , 4(12), 37–49. Web. Accessed March 26, 2017. <http://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/866/433>.

[3] Abu Baker, Ahmad M. S. (2016). Natural Objects in Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel: An Environmental Perspective. Journal of Arts and Humanities , 5(3), 72-85. Web. Accessed March 17, 2017. <http://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/926>.

[4] Al Arabiya News (2008). 18 September. Duktur Yūsif Zīdān al-hásil ‘alá jā'izat būkar al-‘arabīyah.’ Web. Accessed March 16, 2017. <http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/09/18/56833.html>.

[5] Al Masry al Youm (2009). 5 April. Web. Accessed March 1, 2017. <http://today.almasryalyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=205659>.

[6] Al Mostafa, Mohammad Salem (2016). The Representation of Women in Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel: A Feminist Study. Journal of Arts and Humanities , 5(3), 38-49. Web. Accessed April 1, 2017. <http://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/918>.

[7] Al-Sherbini, Ramadan (2008). Muslim Scholar's Novel Angers Coptic Church. Gulf News . Web. Accessed June 24, 2015. <http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/egypt/muslim-scholar-s-novel-angers-coptic-church-1.124207>.

[8] Ancient Alexandria . Web. Accessed April 4, 2017. <http://www.latech.edu/deusloci/deusloci/teachdurrell/mapofalex.html>.

[9] El-Nimnim, Helmi (2009). Min ḥaqq ba'ḍ rijāl al-kanīsah qaḍr min al-ghaḍab. Al-Muṣawwir . Web. Accessed July 9, 2015. <http://www.ziedan.com/books/Azazel/101.asp>.

[10] Freud, Sigmund (1997). The “Uncanny”. In Writings on Art and Literature , eds. Werner Hamacher and David E. Wellbery. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

[11] Mahmood, Saba (2013). Azazeel and the Politics of Historical Fiction in Egypt. Comparative Literature , 65(3), 265–284.

[12] Pflitsch, Andreas (2010). The End of Illusions: On Arab Postmodernism. In Arabic Literature: Postmodern Perspectives , eds. Angelika Neurwirth, et al. London: Saqi.

[13] Phillips, Christina (2011). The Game of Remembering: A Study of Narrative Strategies and the Postmodern Theme in Muhammad Barrāda's Novel Mithl Ṣayf Lan Yatakarrar: Maḥkiyyāt. Middle Eastern Literatures , 14(1), 71–87.

[14] Porter, Lawrence M. (1978). The Devil as Double in Nineteenth-Century Literature: Goethe, Dostoevsky, and Flaubert. Comparative Literature Studies , 15(3), 316–335.

[15] Saleh, Yasmine (2010). Egypt Christians Want Action on “Insulting” Novel. Web. Accessed June 25, 2015. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/05/us-egypt-author-copts-idUSTRE6444CQ20100505>.

[16] Siddiq, Muhammad (2007). Arab Culture and the Novel: Genre, Identity, and Agency in Egyptian Fiction . New York: Routledge.

[17] Ziedan, Youssef (2008). ‘Azāzīl . Cairo: Dar el-Shorouk.

[18] Ziedan, Youssef (2009). Al-lahūt al-‘Arabī wa Usūl al ‘Unf al Dīnī . Cairo: Dar al-Shorouk. Web. Accessed October 6, 2016. <http://www.mohamedrabeea.com/books/book1_9431.pdf>.

[19] Ziedan, Youssef (2012). Azazeel . Trans. Jonathan Wright. London: Atlantic Books.