Withstanding the Winds of Change? Literary Representations of the Gulf War and Its Impacts on Saudi Society

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Arab Studies Quarterly

Volume 39, Issue 4

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Withstanding the Winds of Change? Literary Representations of the Gulf War and Its Impacts on Saudi Society

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Author(s): Zahia Smail Salhi , Abdullah Alfauzan

Publication date (Print): Fall 2017

Journal: Arab Studies Quarterly

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: war literature, Gulf War, social transformations, change, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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Abstract

This article argues that the 1991 Gulf War had a deep transformative effect on Saudi Arabia. It aims to analyze the extent to which this war brought about major ideological changes to a society seemingly deemed unchangeable. Through the study of three Saudi novels which drew on this war as a source of creative and political inspiration, this study brings to life Saudi people's discussions, dilemmas, and reactions to the crumbling of the edifice of Arab unity and the emergence of “America” in its place as the “savior” from the evil of Saddam Hussein. We contend that despite resistance from various conservative elements of Saudi society, the winds of change brought by this war could not be resisted. The novels under study skillfully portray the events of this war not as battlefield accounts, but as accounts of a society wrestling with an irresistible wind of change.

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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: 973-995

Article

Publisher ID: arabstudquar.39.4.0973

DOI: 10.13169/arabstudquar.39.4.0973

SO-VID: e4e1b539-b6a1-4491-b064-af155765214d

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Notes

ʿAbdu Khāl, Nubāḥ . Beirut: Dār al-Jamal, 2003, 19. All translations from the Arabic texts are ours.
Qumāsha al-ʿUlayyān, ʿUyūn ʿala al-samāʾ (Beirut: Sharikat Rashād li-l-ṭībāʿa wa-l-nashr wa-l-tawzīʾ, 2000).
Ibrahim al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda ila al-ayyām al-ūlā (Beirut: Dār al-intishār al-ʿarabī, 2004).
Saʿad al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh-November 90 (Casablanca: Al-markaz al-thaqāfī al-ʿarabī, 2011).
Joe Woodward, “The Literature of War,” Poets and Writers Magazine , November/December 2005. http://www.pw.org/content/literature_war, accessed June 12, 2016.
Miriam Cook, Women and the War Story (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 4.
Ibid.
George Parsons Lathrop, “The Novel and Its Future,” Atlantic Monthly 34:313 (1874), 24.
Morris Dickstein, A Mirror in the Roadway: Literature and the Real World (Princeton University Press, 2007), https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HJ9N2jb14wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed May 11, 2016.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Jonathan Culler, Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 189.
Kadhim Ali, “A Portrait of the Translator as a Political Activist,” http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article1214.htm, accessed May 5, 2016.
Abdel Rahman Munif, “The Novel: A Homeland and a Passion,” Al Ahram Weekly , 2004. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg200467bo33.htm, accessed May 15, 2016.
Ibid.
Susanne Enderwitz, “Memories for the Future: Abdelrahman Munif,” in Angelika Neuwirth et al., eds., Arabic Literature: Postmodern Perspectives (London: Saqi books, 2010), 136–137.
Ibid.
Ibid., our emphasis.
ʿAbdullah Al-Ghadhāmī, Al-Qabīlah wa al-qabāʾiliyyah: Hawiyyāt mā ba ‘da al-ḥadāthah (Beirut: Al-markaz al-thaqāfī al- ʿArabī, 2009), 8.
See, for example, Robert Lacey, Inside the Kingdom (London: Arrow Books, 2009).
Al-ʿUlayyān, ʿUyūn , 42–43.
Ibid., 45.
Al-Khuḍīr, Awda , 131.
Don Peretz, The Middle East Today (London: Praeger, 1988), 150.
Lacey, Inside the Kingdom , 129.
Beverly Milton-Edwards, Contemporary Politics in the Middle East (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000), 106.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 134.
Lacey, Inside the Kingdom , 128.
Milton-Edwards, Contemporary Politics , 105.
Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 340–341.
Walid Khalidi, The Middle East Post-war Environment (Washington: IPS, 1991), 162.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 475.
Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 358.
Lacey, Inside the Kingdom , 129.
ʿAbdu Khāl, Mudun , 7.
Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 82–83.
Ibid., 186.
Al-ʿUlayyān, ʿUyūn , 44.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 462.
Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 196.
Ibid., 213.
Milton-Edwards, Contemporary Politics , 106.
Ibid.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 136.
Ibid., 109.
David Klein, “Mechanisms of Western Domination: A Short History of Iraq and Kuwait,” 2003. http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/iraqkuwait.html, accessed February 19, 2016.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 461.
Ibid., 62–63.
Tom Doyle, Two Nations under God: Why You Should Care about Israel (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2008), 84.
See, for example, John-Paul Lederach, The Little Book of Conflict Transformation (NP: Good Books, 2003).
Al-Khuḍīr, Awda , 99.
Ibid., 5.
Ibid., 520.
Robert Surbrug, Beyond Vietnam: The Politics of Protest in Massachusetts, 1974–1990 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009), 256.
Anthony H. Cordesman, Saudi Arabia Enters the 21st Century (Westport: Praeger, 2003), 174.
Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties (New York: Scribner, 2004), 144.
Ibid., 146.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 144.
For more details, see Thomas Hegghammer, Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 270.
Abdulrehman A. Hussein, So History Doesn't Forget: Alliances Behavior in Foreign Policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1979–1990 (Bloomington: Author House, 2012), 302–303.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 451–452.
Ibid., 102–103.
Ibid., 470–471.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 65, 98, our emphasis.
Hussein, So History Doesn't Forget 301.
Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 39.
Stephen A. Bourque and John Burdan, The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2007), 236.
Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 100.
Hussein, 301.
Al-Khudīr, ʿAwda , 62.
Lisa Finnegan, No Questions Asked: News Coverage since 9/11 (Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2006), 32.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 227, our emphasis.
Ibid., 285.
Amélie Le Renard, “‘Only for Women’: Women, the State, and Reform in Saudi Arabia,” Middle East Journal , 62:4 (2008), 610–629.
Mājid Al-Mufaddalī, “Al-Ikhṭilāṭ muṣṭalaḥ jadīd wa l-adilla al-sharʿiyya taruddu bi quwwa ʿala man yuḥarrimuh,” Okāz , December 9, 2009, http://www.okaz.com.sa/new/Issues/20091209/Con20091209319589.htm, accessed March 22, 2016.
See Madawi Al-Rasheed, A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 159–165.
Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 191.
Ibid., 16.
Ibid., 470, our emphasis.
Nikki, R. Keddie, Women in the Middle East: Past and Present (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), 150.
Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 100.
Le Renard, “‘Only for Women,’” 619.

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Comment on this article

[1] ʿAbdu Khāl, Nubāḥ . Beirut: Dār al-Jamal, 2003, 19. All translations from the Arabic texts are ours.

[2] Qumāsha al-ʿUlayyān, ʿUyūn ʿala al-samāʾ (Beirut: Sharikat Rashād li-l-ṭībāʿa wa-l-nashr wa-l-tawzīʾ, 2000).

[3] Ibrahim al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda ila al-ayyām al-ūlā (Beirut: Dār al-intishār al-ʿarabī, 2004).

[4] Saʿad al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh-November 90 (Casablanca: Al-markaz al-thaqāfī al-ʿarabī, 2011).

[5] Joe Woodward, “The Literature of War,” Poets and Writers Magazine , November/December 2005. http://www.pw.org/content/literature_war, accessed June 12, 2016.

[6] Miriam Cook, Women and the War Story (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 4.

[7] Ibid.

[8] George Parsons Lathrop, “The Novel and Its Future,” Atlantic Monthly 34:313 (1874), 24.

[9] Morris Dickstein, A Mirror in the Roadway: Literature and the Real World (Princeton University Press, 2007), https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HJ9N2jb14wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed May 11, 2016.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Jonathan Culler, Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), 189.

[13] Kadhim Ali, “A Portrait of the Translator as a Political Activist,” http://www.translationdirectory.com/articles/article1214.htm, accessed May 5, 2016.

[14] Abdel Rahman Munif, “The Novel: A Homeland and a Passion,” Al Ahram Weekly , 2004. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg200467bo33.htm, accessed May 15, 2016.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Susanne Enderwitz, “Memories for the Future: Abdelrahman Munif,” in Angelika Neuwirth et al., eds., Arabic Literature: Postmodern Perspectives (London: Saqi books, 2010), 136–137.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Ibid., our emphasis.

[19] ʿAbdullah Al-Ghadhāmī, Al-Qabīlah wa al-qabāʾiliyyah: Hawiyyāt mā ba ‘da al-ḥadāthah (Beirut: Al-markaz al-thaqāfī al- ʿArabī, 2009), 8.

[20] See, for example, Robert Lacey, Inside the Kingdom (London: Arrow Books, 2009).

[21] Al-ʿUlayyān, ʿUyūn , 42–43.

[22] Ibid., 45.

[23] Al-Khuḍīr, Awda , 131.

[24] Don Peretz, The Middle East Today (London: Praeger, 1988), 150.

[25] Lacey, Inside the Kingdom , 129.

[26] Beverly Milton-Edwards, Contemporary Politics in the Middle East (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000), 106.

[27] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 134.

[28] Lacey, Inside the Kingdom , 128.

[29] Milton-Edwards, Contemporary Politics , 105.

[30] Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 340–341.

[31] Walid Khalidi, The Middle East Post-war Environment (Washington: IPS, 1991), 162.

[32] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 475.

[33] Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 358.

[34] Lacey, Inside the Kingdom , 129.

[35] ʿAbdu Khāl, Mudun , 7.

[36] Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 82–83.

[37] Ibid., 186.

[38] Al-ʿUlayyān, ʿUyūn , 44.

[39] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 462.

[40] Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 196.

[41] Ibid., 213.

[42] Milton-Edwards, Contemporary Politics , 106.

[43] Ibid.

[44] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 136.

[45] Ibid., 109.

[46] David Klein, “Mechanisms of Western Domination: A Short History of Iraq and Kuwait,” 2003. http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/iraqkuwait.html, accessed February 19, 2016.

[47] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 461.

[48] Ibid., 62–63.

[49] Tom Doyle, Two Nations under God: Why You Should Care about Israel (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2008), 84.

[50] See, for example, John-Paul Lederach, The Little Book of Conflict Transformation (NP: Good Books, 2003).

[51] Al-Khuḍīr, Awda , 99.

[52] Ibid., 5.

[53] Ibid., 520.

[54] Robert Surbrug, Beyond Vietnam: The Politics of Protest in Massachusetts, 1974–1990 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2009), 256.

[55] Anthony H. Cordesman, Saudi Arabia Enters the 21st Century (Westport: Praeger, 2003), 174.

[56] Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties (New York: Scribner, 2004), 144.

[57] Ibid., 146.

[58] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 144.

[59] For more details, see Thomas Hegghammer, Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

[60] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 270.

[61] Abdulrehman A. Hussein, So History Doesn't Forget: Alliances Behavior in Foreign Policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1979–1990 (Bloomington: Author House, 2012), 302–303.

[62] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 451–452.

[63] Ibid., 102–103.

[64] Ibid., 470–471.

[65] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 65, 98, our emphasis.

[66] Hussein, So History Doesn't Forget 301.

[67] Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 39.

[68] Stephen A. Bourque and John Burdan, The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2007), 236.

[69] Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 100.

[70] Hussein, 301.

[71] Al-Khudīr, ʿAwda , 62.

[72] Lisa Finnegan, No Questions Asked: News Coverage since 9/11 (Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2006), 32.

[73] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 227, our emphasis.

[74] Ibid., 285.

[75] Amélie Le Renard, “‘Only for Women’: Women, the State, and Reform in Saudi Arabia,” Middle East Journal , 62:4 (2008), 610–629.

[76] Mājid Al-Mufaddalī, “Al-Ikhṭilāṭ muṣṭalaḥ jadīd wa l-adilla al-sharʿiyya taruddu bi quwwa ʿala man yuḥarrimuh,” Okāz , December 9, 2009, http://www.okaz.com.sa/new/Issues/20091209/Con20091209319589.htm, accessed March 22, 2016.

[77] See Madawi Al-Rasheed, A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 159–165.

[78] Al-Khuḍīr, ʿAwda , 191.

[79] Ibid., 16.

[80] Ibid., 470, our emphasis.

[81] Nikki, R. Keddie, Women in the Middle East: Past and Present (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), 150.

[82] Al-Dūsarī, Al-Riyādh , 100.

[83] Le Renard, “‘Only for Women,’” 619.

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