Magical Realism in Saudi Novels Between the Return to Origin and the Impact of Foreign trend.

Abstract

This study is mainly concerned with the renewal in Saudi novel in late 1980s. It also links this renewal with global literary trends via studying the most prominent foreign influences that influenced the writing of Saudi novelists in that period. The study focuses on magical realism trend, which has emerged in Latin America and then expanded to be a global trend influencing many novelists around the word including Saudi novelists. The study is divided into five chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. Chapter one provides an overview of the main aspects of the study. It clarifies the title terminologies and contains an introduction along with two sections. The first section is devoted to explaining the most important stages of the evolution of Saudi Arabian novels. It aims to determine the period on which the study is focusing. The second section is devoted to exploring the meaning and development of the term magic realism. It highlights the innovative and unconventional ideas of the magical realism movement that opened new horizons of inquiry and creation away from the restriction of realism and encouraged artists and writers to challenge the classical definition of reality. Then, a comparison is conducted between fantasy elements in the classical Arabic literature and the new global magical realism trend. The comparative study aims to reveal the similarities and dissimilarities between classical and modern trends and to investigate the distinctive power of magic realism on contemporary Arabic writers in general and Saudi writers in particular. Chapters two to five contain an empirical analysis. Each chapter is devoted to analyse a number of novels that relevant to one of the selected Saudi novelists. The thesis studies three males and one female Saudi novelists whose works reflect aspects of magical realism.