Ricerc@Sapienza

The emergence of Science fiction in Arabic (al-khayyal al-'ilmi) can be traced back to the second part of the 20th century: this literary genre has elaborated themes and images that switches among the fantastic, the marvelous and the utopian and whose seeds belong to classical Arabic literary heritage. al-Khayyal al-'ilmi was also undoubtedly influenced by the most recognized ouvres of English Science fiction. This paper will focus on the “places” – broadly speaking – where al-Khayyal al-'ilmi met Science fiction.

Il volume prende in esame alcune prospettive sulla produzione araba moderna e contemporanea relativamente al concetto di Homeland

The emergence of Science Fiction in Arabic can be traced back to the second part of the 19 th century, but this genre has often been neglected by critics and academics. Nowadays we can recognize an increasing popularity of this literary production, with a large number of publications from Egypt, Lebanon, and even Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In last April the literary panorama of the Arab world has been upset by the releasing of a novel, surprisingly coming from Saudi Arabia.

al-Qārūrah (The Bottle, 2004) is one of the best-known novels written by the Saudi author Yūsuf al-Muḥaymīd (1964). Set in the timeline of the Gulf War (1990-91), the novel mainly reconstructs the life of Munīrah al-Sāhī, the female protagonist. Symbol of the general climate of violence towards women in her country, she decides to record women’s stories on pieces of paper that she places in the bottle given to her by her grandmother. Feminism, struggles for women empowerment and historical critique are – as one would expect – the central aspects of this novel.

Contemporary writers are used to exploring the “quest for eternal life” theme, al-khulud (immortality), by resorting to the elixir vitae as well as to hibernation and reincarnation, for instance, in order to express the neverending human struggle for overcoming the limits imposed by time. This quest permeates many novels which are pivotal for the emergence of science fiction in Arabic literature. In fact, it is now possible for scholars to underline the existence of a particular type of novel within the science fiction’s genre, i.e.

This article tries to explore the meaning of an image (i.e. the bottle) as a feminine space. The bottle occupies a meaningful “place” (topos) in the world literature: among many narratives, also the Iraqi writer Salīm Maṭar gives his personal interpretation of this pervasive image in his famous novel Imra’at al-Qārūrah (The Woman of the Flask, 1990). Maṭar creates a sort of ḥūriyyah who, in her eternal life within the bottle, offers a témoignage of the history of her land.