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The Dialectic of Nonsimultaneity in Bahaa Taher's Sunset Oasis
Abstract
The article aims at reading Bahaa Taher's Wāḥat al-Ghuūb ( Sunset Oasis) through Ernst Bloch's notion of the simultaneity of the nonsimultaneous ( Gleichzeitigkeit des Ungleichzeitigen), which foregrounds the existence of a multilayered temporality in the now, together with its inherent contradictions. By deploying the hermeneutical capacity of the simultaneity of the nonsimultaneous, the article shows how Taher highlights the condition of a nation in crisis, through its social and cultural strata that are out of sync. The simultaneity of the nonsimultaneous is, therefore, the underlying logic of the content as well as a form of expression. By analyzing the multilayered temporality, the article argues that Bahaa Taher introduces a multivoiced dialectic, that brings all contradictions to consciousness without mastering and controlling them under a grand narrative.
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