After the study of nahdah, we continue to the overview of the twentieth century Arabic literature up to our days. Because of historical and political difficulties of most of the Arab countries from the twentieth century onwards, one element in common with most of this geographical area is adab al-iltizàm (commitment literature).
Several literary voices will be studied, some of them emerging, others already well-known, as well as literary currents (prison literature, torture literature, exile literature): all representative of the desire for independence and democracy which, from Maghreb to Mashreq, gave rise to a writing of resistance and rebellion against all oppressive policies, foreign or local. The course includes the historical-political framework of the Arab countries and, in particular, we will cover topics such as the European colonization in the Maghreb, the Palestinian question, the Arab springs, the American occupation of Iraq, the Syrian crisis. The course includes reading, analysis and translation of extracts from literary works studied in class.
Texts:
I. Camera d’Afflitto, Cento anni di cultura palestinese, Carocci, Roma 2007 N. B: Each student is invited to read at least two novels (or collections of stories or poems), translated from Arabic into Italian. Texts in Arabic and further bibliographical updates will be provided during the lectures.