Experimentation with narrative techniques and modes of writing in ‘Abd al‐Rahman Munif's Mudun al‐milh: al‐tih

Abstract

In several places in his book Al-Kdtib wa-al-manfd (The Writer and Exile), 'Abd al-Rahman Munif asserts his preoccupation with producing a national tradition of the novel. Such a preoccupation involves a great deal of experimentation with new narrative techniques and modes of writing inspired by the author's concern with drawing on the native literary heritage as well as his characteristic interest in basing his narrative on dramatizing national human concerns in a specific historical period. Munif s firm belief that the Arabic novel should be a unique literary product whose composition and shape are determined by its cultural milieu coincides with Q. D. Leavis's views on the distinctive character of the English novel. In an article entitled 'The Englishness of the English Novel', Leavis argues: