War in her words: Assia Djebar, Ahlam Mosteghanemi, Hanan Al-Shaykh, and Ghada Al-Samman’s writing on conflict and feminism in the Arab world 1975-2000

This thesis presents a new comparative analysis of selected writings related to the civil war in Algeria and Lebanon by the Arab Women Writers Assia Djebar, Ahlam Mosteghanemi, Hanan Al-Shaykh, and Ghada Al-Samman during the timeframe 1975-2000. The literary texts that I analyse are Algerian White (1996) and The Tongue’s Blood Does Not Run Dry: Algerian Stories (1997) by Assia Djebar, Memory in the Flesh (1997) by Ahlam Mosteghanemi, The Story of Zahra (1980) by Hanan al-Shaykh, and Beirut Nightmares (1976) by Ghada Al-Samman. I focus on the narrative techniques that these writers use to establish their position within the domain of war literature and feminism. My study reveals how they experiment with different literary genres such as autobiography, short story, and novels to present a nuanced understanding of the demands of society, and to articulate women’s experiences during conflicts, as well as to construct a collective memory of those events. It uses postcolonial, cultural, and narrative theories to examine the relationship between war narration and the writers’ choices of literary genres and narrative strategies for exploring women’s position in society. I argue that the choice of literary genres and narrative voice in each of the selected texts establishes consistent strategies to challenge patriarchal values. Their choices also demonstrate a politically resistant position for each writer. I also explain that this politically resistant position is shown through the strategic choice of language by Djebar and Mosteghanemi as a response to the linguistic policy imposed on Algeria before and after Independence, and through the representation of a plurality of narrative perspectives by Al-Shaykh and Al-Samman in response to the sectarian division in Lebanon.