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Title:
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A Study of the Literary Discourse in the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz: The dynamics of gender and religion
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Author:
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Kamel Elsaadany
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
, Department of Linguistics
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Degree Date:
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1999
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Discourse Analysis
Sociolinguistics
Ling & Literature
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Director(s):
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Rajeshwari Pandharipande
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Abstract:
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This study aims at discussing Mahfouz's portrayal of gender in his literary writings in terms of religion. The discussion of gender in Mahfouz's novels is done through adopting an interdisciplinary approach to discourse that makes use of many different discourse theories. Although the study discusses in some detail in its theoretical framework seven major approaches to discourse, yet, it depends in its discourse analysis of Mahfouz's novels on interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, and Pettersson's (1990) theory of literary discourse. These three approaches to discourse are proved to complement one another. The study has also shown the discourse techniques that Mahfouz has utilized in depicting gender in his novels. Among the most effective techniques that Mahfouz uses are: parallelism, juxtaposition, symbolism, allegory, stream-of-consciousness, use of vernacular for inducing certain effects, use of the third person pronoun in his narration and description, and the quantitative technique that gives the gender that Mahfouz prefers, as the secular and socialist characters, more room to speak and illustrate his/her beliefs. The study has also proved that Mahfouz's favoritism is on the side of the secular or socialist characters, which pronounce their creator's beliefs.
Likewise, the study has shown that Mahfouz's own stance of religion and the way he perceives it, affect his portrayal of gender in general and the religious gender in particular in all his works. It has also illustrated that it is characteristic of Mahfouz to juxtapose and parallel his characters. When Mahfouz favors a certain type of gender or character, such as the secular or atheistic character, he portrays this gender as amiable, sound, effective, flawless, and positive. Likewise, when he has a negative attitude towards a certain gender, such as the religious characters, he portrays them as distorted, ineffective, derelict, flawed and abnormal. The discourse analysis has also shown that Mahfouz's works team with examples of this latter type, and that while he is always glorifying the non-religious, deviated, secular and pagan characters, he is always deriding and sneering at religion and religious characters and even at God, as in Awlad Haritna. Thus, Mahfouz's portrayal of gender stems from his doubt and/or denial of Islam as a religion that can achieve justice, welfare, progress and good in general for all people, male and female, in modern times. Mahfouz's such portrayal has been proved to go against the pure Islamic conventions and constructs about God, gender, and the relationship between men and women in society.
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