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Between 1900 and 1970 seven different versions of Sophocles’ play Oedipus Tyrannos were performed or published in Arabic in Egypt. This thesis looks at the first 71 years’ history of this iconic Greek tragedy in Arabic and the ways it can be used to think through the cultural debates of the period. The long history of contact between Greece and Egypt and the 19th and 20th century interpretations of this history can be used to look at different models of colonial and post-colonial cultural interaction. Classicism offered Egyptian writers a constructive way of looking at their cultural identity and contemporary world – a way which takes in to account the legacies of colonialism but also engages Greek literature to create their own models of nationhood. Following the history of performance and adaptation of the play throughout the 20th century, this thesis offers close readings of the most prominent adaptations of Oedipus, particularly those of Farah Antun (whose text was used for Actor-Director George Abyad’s first version of the play in 1912), Tawfiq al-Hakim (1949), Ali Ahmed Bakathir (1949) and Ali Salem (1970). Using performance and translation theory, I show how performance of translated plays like Oedipus was a crucial but complex part of the formation of an Egyptian dramatic tradition through the dynamic interaction of diverse views of what the theatre should be, using, for instance, the role of singing in turn of the century drama. This thesis also revisits and revises misconceptions about the relationship between Islam and theatre. In addition to examining Egyptian Oedipus’ 19th and 20th century context, I also stress the contribution of performance and adaptation to readings of the original text. In particular, these versions of Oedipus ask questions about monarchical rule and democracy that form one link between this classical play and 20th century Egypt. Through its interdisciplinary approach as well as the close readings it offers, this thesis aims to make valuable contributions to the fields of Arabic Theatre Studies and Classical Reception in Colonial and Post-Colonial contexts as well as Performance and Translation Theory.

Recent years have seen a surge of scholarship that foregrounds the relationship between the novel and the nation. The postcolonial condition of much of the Arab world has made the Arabic novel a compelling case. For historical reasons the focus has tended to be on the literary production of North Africa, the Levant and, to a lesser extent, Iraq. This thesis aims to redress the balance while interrogating certain assumptions about this relationship. Its main contention is that the early Saudi novel, as a unique case study, complicates traditional categorisations of the novel in Arabic, either in terms of a set of discrete, national traditions or as a monolithic, regional tradition, i.e. ‘the Arabic novel’. I argue that the ‘Saudi’ novel and its canonisation reflect, and were shaped by, the inherent ambivalence of the nation space and Arab discourses of national identity. This ambivalence gives rise to a third or liminal space of literary production. The thesis revolves around two axes. Firstly, it traces the emergence of the novel in Hijaz, from the 1930s through to the late 1950s. Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932, for a long time Hijaz retained a sense of its own distinct identity, countering the dominant Najdi-Wahhabi narrative. The close reading of selected texts explores how they express both a strong sense of Hijazi identity and a deep ambivalence towards ‘the Saudi nation’. The salience of ‘the woman question’ in Arab nationalist discourses makes gender a key consideration. The territorialising impulse present in much men’s fiction is shown to be absent from the Saudi women’s novel that emerged between the late 1950s and mid-1970s. Aside from exemplifying the genderedness of nation, this contributes to an explanation of the marginalisation of Saudi women’s novels from the canon. Secondly, the issue of novel and nation is linked to the critical discourse on the Saudi novel and its canonisation. Through an analysis of the literary articles that appeared in the pages of Hijaz’s early press, I trace the origins of a nationalist, ideological concept of the novel and its function that privileges the canonical realist novel for its mimetic representation of the writer’s national social reality. The result of this is that histories of the Saudi novel often present a teleology that is unable to adequately explain its construction or account for its liminality. The thesis offers a more nuanced understanding of the dynamic relationship between the novel and identity, as well as the novel’s construction in the Arabic context.

A number of Lebanese women writers of the period of 1950s and 1960s have received considerable attention by scholars. This is not the case, however, for Laylá Ba‘albakī, whom the field has failed to address in any substantive manner. In not paying sufficient attention to Laylá Ba‘albakī, the field has failed to appreciate the distinctly feminist dimension of her work. To date, most scholars have only repeated commonly held views about her and her fiction. By addressing Ba‘albakī’s biography and fiction, this thesis hopes to contribute to a fuller understanding of Lebanese women writers of 1950s and 1960s. It shows that Ba‘albakī joined the group Shi‘r, but none of the Lebanese or Syrian political parties; and that she faced conflict not only with her parents, community and the state, but also, unexpectedly, with the Lebanese women’s groups. This study discusses the reasons why Ba‘albakī was brought before the courts, supporting the view that the underlying reason was political, not moral; and it further explores the reasons why the writer ceased publishing. It now seems probable that she will soon release a new work, after a long hiatus, which may be controversial within Muslim and Arab society. Moreover, this thesis shows that throughout her novels and short stories there is diversity in styles and techniques, and the use of poetic and figurative language which displays the influence of several Arab and Western poets (including her father’s own zajal poetry). Furthermore, the study focuses in particular on feminist themes in her work, and the various literary devices she employs for advancing her feminist agenda. The study of these devices further supports the claim that the court case against her was motivated by politics, not ethics. This thesis opens the doors for new discussions such as the impacts of her being Shiite as and when sources become available.

My research is a literary study which primarily examines previously unstudied best-selling action-thriller fiction primary material from the US, Britain and Russia (published in the decade following the 11 September 2001 attacks) in the contexts of hegemonic masculinity and Self and Other stereotyping. I analyse thirteen works by the following popular fiction authors: Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva, Nelson DeMille, Frederick Forsyth and Danil Koretskiy. Drawing on masculinity studies and archetypal psychology, I formulate the model of the archetypal hero – a character type which the above authors‘ works capitalise on. I trace the employment of this model in these primary works within the framework of constructing a positive and heroic image of the Self, of which the action-thriller hero is the chief representative. The archetypal hero‘s principal traits include courage, honour, individualism and just violence among others. Heroes such as Mitch Rapp, Gabriel Allon, John Corey, Mike Martin, Max Kardanov and Alexei Mal‘tsev embody this archetypal model and confirm it as positive and dominant in their respective narratives. The authors also utilise a variety of framing strategies to enhance their heroes‘ authoritativeness and characterisation. Among these strategies, the use of historical facts and figures to anchor the narrative, enemy acknowledgement of the hero‘s qualities and female characters‘ fulfilment of traditional gender roles are the most prominent. First-person narration also plays a role in enhancing authenticity, such as in DeMille‘s novels. While the heroes and the side they represent are characterised as inherently positive and superior, their terrorist antagonists fulfil the role of the essentialised and diametrically opposite Other. I demonstrate through further analysis how these characters are positioned as archetypal terrorists, embodying traits which are antithetical to the hero‘s: backwardness; hatred of modernity and ‗civilisation‘; religion (Islam) as their source of hatred; desire for arbitrary revenge and unjustified violence; hypocrisy and disloyalty. Having analysed the main archetypal heroes and villains in the primary action-thriller works, I proceed to examine two mainstream literary authors: American John Updike and Algerian Francophone Yasmina Khadra. I study those of their novels which foreground terrorist characters instead of archetypal heroes, thus analysing one novel by Updike (Terrorist) and two by Khadra (Les Sirènes de Bagdad and L’Attentat). I find that, despite an increased focus on the character of the budding teenage suicide bomber from New Jersey, Updike‘s characterisation follows a pattern similar to the archetypal terrorist in the action-thriller sources. On the other hand, Khadra achieves a more balanced and complex portrayal, presenting his terrorists as human beings motivated by their various personal, social and political grievances rather than blind religious hatred. In sum, only Khadra‘s narratives transcend stereotypical views of terrorism, while the other post-9/11 primary works (including Updike) focus on perpetuating binary oppositions of the Self and Other, masculinity and emasculation. My original contribution to knowledge is the identification, definition and comparative textual analysis of archetypal hero and terrorist characters in post-9/11 action-thriller and mainstream fiction in three languages (English, Russian and French) within a framework combining several elements: aspects of the system of representation of the terrorist Other, masculinity studies and archetypal psychology as well as the context of political and media post-9/11 views of Arabs and/or Muslims in the US, Britain and Russia.

The originality of this study stems primarily from its comparative nature, with its substantive focus on the Egyptian playwright Salāḥ 'Abd al-Sabūr who wrote in Arabic and the Nigerian dramatist, Wole Soyinka (1934), writing in English. It thus attempts to address a gap in comparative research which has so far been largely confined to comparative studies of either Western writers and African counterparts or Western writers and Arab counterparts, but rarely combined Arab and African writers. This thesis investigates selected dramatic works of the two playwrights seeking to reveal the various manifestations of poetics and politics in their drama. The aim is to find the theatrical connection between the two dramatists, a connection that could shed more light on the aesthetics of their drama and the sources of influence on them. My main concern has been, firstly, to explore Nietzsche’s influence on their drama; secondly, to analyse the dynamic relationship between their dramatic content and the local cultural and political environment of Egypt and Nigeria; and thirdly, to examine the use of history as a means of addressing contemporary issues. The first chapter is a discussion of Soyink ’s The Bacchae of Euripides. It investigates the impact of Nietzsche’s ideas, particularly those voiced in The Birth of Tragedy (1872), on Soyink ’s critic and dramatic perspectives. In the second chapter 'Abd al-Sabūr' Night Traveller is discussed. In this chapter I attempt to explore how the Egyptian playwright presente Nietzsche’s theological ideas in dramatic form. I also attempt to show how ʻAbd al-Sabūr adapted Nietzsche’s concepts to fit in with the aesthetics of modern drama in Egyptian culture. Chapter Three examines the use of religion in their drama. Religion features as an important source which afforded both ʻAbd al-Sabūr and Soyinka sufficient material for rituals, symbols, allusions, metaphors and language. In Chapter Four, the dramatists’ views and use of history is explored. The value of history and its intricate relationship to aesthetics in drama is discussed within the frame of modernism and in the light of Nietzsche’s controversial ideas of history. Chapter Five examines the interrelation between politics and poetics in the theatre of the two dramatists. It presents an attempt at a postcolonial reading of selected plays. Chapter Six explores the image, role and dilemma of the intellectual. The role assigned to this figure is important in understanding their view of theatre and its function in society. The thesis finally argues that both 'Abd al-Sabūr and Soyinka established a theatre that was based on syncretism of indigenous traditions and foreign influence. Their dramatic works tackle local issues in theatrical forms that are not necessarily indigenous. While ʻAbd al-Sabūr' drama was highly literary and its theatricality was not obviously compelling, Soyink ’s possessed theatrical elements that made their performance vividly interesting for audiences.

New Criticism has had a profound impact on Arabic critical thought since the early 1950s. The reasons behind this vary from one critic to another. Some have employed New Criticism to analyse the poetic movement of Shi r al-taf īla, and its new poetic features that required innovative critical tools. Other critics’ use of New Criticism was based on their familiarity with English literary thought and schools of criticism. While some Arab critics, such as Iḥsān Abbās, Izz al-Dīn Ismā īl and Ilyās Khūrī, partially employed New Criticism, others, such as Rashād Rushdī and his students, confined themselves exclusively to New Criticism, viewing it as the only appropriate approach to literature. Members of Majallat Shi r employed many New Critical ideas, deeming them to be the modern concept of poetry. Through an in-depth reading of the articles in Shi r, and a comparative approach based on thorough study of New Critical writings, this thesis demonstrates that the majority of the critical ideas and concepts which appeared in Shi r were based on New Criticism. Additionally, the thesis illustrates that many of Shi r’s critics, particularly Yūsuf al-Khāl who dominated the magazine, showed a great deal of fascination with the New Critics, Eliot in particular. The Shi r critics’ use of New Criticism appeared to be, particularly on the theoretical level, an imitation to such an extent that one cannot find any new critical ideas in al-Khāl’s works. Additionally, the New Critics’ concepts were predominantly theoretical and largely unsupported by examples from Arabic poetry, with the exception of Jabrā’s and Khālida Sa īd’s works. In this way, Shi r critics’ contention that modern Arabic literary thought should be creative while seeking to evade the imitation of classical literary and critical accounts was fallacious as they merely replaced one form of imitation with another. Furthermore, Shi r critics called for many ideas without providing literary justifications or examples. One instance pertains to their encouragement of the use of colloquial Arabic instead of the standardised form. Furthermore, other critical problems, such as issues involving poetic ambiguity and language, were tackled insufficiently. For these reasons, this thesis characterises the relationship of Shi r critics to the New Critics as not only one of fascination and imitation, but also as a parental paradigm similar to a father-child relationship. Initially, I sought to find in Shi r new critical concepts and developments resulting from the use of New Criticism and simultaneously based on modern Arabic literature. However, much to my dismay, I discovered that the magazine’s critical project based itself, to a great extent, on the New Critical concepts without questioning or challenging them. This behaviour appears analogous to children’s imitation of their parents as an ideal form of behaviour.

This dissertation analyzes the change in the representation of women in Iranian cinema since the 1990s and investigates the motives behind it by looking at the overall history of Iranian cinema and those active in its production. Iranian cinema, both before and after the Islamic Revolution, has been closely watched by the ruling powers and one way or another has been utilized to relay messages that comply with the dominant order. But this has not completely shut down all the efforts of the filmmakers striving to convey a more meaningful message. The Iranian cinema industry has been the arena of an elite intellectual group of people; only following the 1979 Revolution and the “legitimization of cinema” by the Islamic order did it become a widely accessible industry to the general public, who tended to ignore or oppose it prior to the Islamic Revolution. This thesis pays close attention to the changing roles of women in film production and representation. Although aspects of women’s lives become stricter after the Revolution, it is in this period—from the late 1980s into the 1990s—that women for the first time took a prominent role both behind and in front of the camera. This dissertation argues that such shifts are due to “factionalism” within the Islamic Republic, shifts internal to the film industry and the emergence of a group of highly educated film production teams, in addition to the variety of ways in which women were able to exercise more agency in the film industry. One trope around which this shift occurs is that of the “veil” as a technique and metaphor for social practice in representation. Employing feminist film theory tools, a number of representative female-centric films from this period are analyzed, focusing on their cultural, political, and cinematic contexts. Examining the films with respect to the representation of women, the research relies on textual analysis as its basic methodology. Along with the textual analysis, interviews conducted with filmmakers and people active in the industry also help to map the films in the socio-political context in which they were produced.

Al-ghazal al-‘udhri emerged as a remarkable literary genre in Arabic literature during the Umayyad period (7th-8th centuries CE). The leaders of this genre are famous poet-lovers who were known for their dramatic love stories and unique poetry, such as Majnun Layla, Qays Lubna and Jamil Buthaynah. There is a common presumption of the absence of the concept of the body in al-ghazal al-‘udhri; most scholars to date have only reproduced commonly- held ideas about the purity of ‘udhri love without doubting its supposed chastity. This thesis, however, argues that the body has a privileged position in al-ghazal al-‘udhri. It shows that the body’s presence is represented, realistically or allegorically, in various ways, both in anecdotes ascribed to ‘udhri poets as well as in their poetry. Although some critics have discussed the theme of the ‘depiction of the beloved’s body’, it is the contribution of this study to illuminate the ‘ethereal nature of beauty’ in this depiction. Moreover, this thesis provides a discussion about the symbolic body in ‘udhri poetry. It provides a departure from the prevailing views on the ‘udhri phenomenon in studies of classical Arabic literature. It opens the door to new discussions on the relationship between love poetry and Arab society in the classical age. It is also a contribution to literary studies of representations of the body.