GOTHICISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY ARAB FICTION: A STUDY OF AHMAD TAWFIK'S APPROPRIATION OF MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN
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Date
2023-04-17
Authors
Sana Mohammed Sadeq Jawabreh
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Abstract
Abstract
This thesis studies the appropriation of Mary Shelley’s classical gothic novel Frankenstein by the contemporary Egyptian novelist Ahmad Tawfik which is entitled The Legend of Frankenstein. It highlights the main features of this evolving genre within the context of postmodern Egypt, arguing that Tawfik, by projecting both the creator and the creature into the contemporary Egyptian scene, manages in his The Legend of Frankenstein to create new roles for the Gothic genre that embody the anxieties of the contemporary Egyptian youth. In doing so, Tawfik has arguably denounced the orthodoxy of the current dominant genres and has penetrated the Egyptian polysystem of genres. Tawfik succeeds in the creation of a unique appropriation, deploying his own style and painting his own series’ protagonist with the colors of contemporary Egypt. In this appropriation of the classic gothic, the author maintains the main features of the original story's plot line, only to relocate it in postmodern Egypt, thus enunciating important aspects of the sublime and generating new perspectives that fit with the contemporary Arab youth culture. The supernatural component of the Gothic is neutralized, and therefore, the research will explain how and why this deactivation of the supernatural takes place. In view of that, the researcher highlights the modification introduced through Tawfik’s appropriation of Shelley’s Frankenstein, and, in doing so, she will draw the main features of the Arab contemporary Gothic Literature.
Keywords: Alter Ego; Carnivalesque Gothic Postmodern Egyptian Youth culture; Mediocracy; Monstrosity; Postmodern Arabic Literature; Postmodern Gothic.