Masculinity and Syrian Fiction: Gender, Society and the Female Gaze

What can novels tell us about masculinity in Syria? In this book, Lovisa Berg explores over 20 Syrian novels covering the last 50 years of the 20th century. Uniquely, she examines only female writers in order to gauge the changing ways in which Syrian women perceived the function of masculinity, and the impact certain attitudes towards masculinity have on men, women, children and Syrian society, from a female perspective. The works of writers from Kulit Khuri to UsaymaDarwish are analysed to explore changing attitudes to gender in Syria and the Middle East, as well as the political upheavals within the country and region. We see the idealistically portrayed men in the novels of female authors in the 1950s give way in time to a more critical depictions of patriarchy. Above all, we see through the use of novels a plethora of critiques of masculine hegemony in Syrian society, the authors of which are able with the use of fiction to reorganise and question maleness in a way denied to them in reality. This book will be of interest to scholars of Contemporary Syrian and Arabic Literature, Masculinity Studies and Women's Studies.

Author: Lovisa Berg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 06/29/2023
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.47d
ISBN13: 9780755637669
ISBN10: 0755637666
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Middle Eastern
- Social Science | Gender Studies

About the Author
Lovisa Berg is a senior lecturer of Arabic at Dalarna University, Sweden and the head of the Arabic department. She has a PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies, her main research topics are modern Syrian literature, Syrian drama series and gender studies. She teaches Arabic literature and language on undergraduate and graduate level.