In the golden age of Muslim literature; though a period of social decay and political anarchy, our author Utmän b. Ginni was born and raised in the metropolitan city of Mosul. The reports are at variance regarding his date of birth. According to most. of the medieval biographers, his birth was before 330/941, while another report goes a bit earlier to fix his death vaguely before 300/912. From a few contemporary events, some researchers asserted that he was born in 320/932. Another date given is 302/914.

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.

The first part of this thesis, divided into two chapters, deals with the early background of European Romanticism; the reasons behind its appearance and problems of definition. There follows a discussion on the question of the originality of Arabic Romanticism, with ,a brief review of the roots and main literary groups of this movement in Arabic poetry. Part two examines the influence of English poetry and thought on three Arab Romantic poets: Nāzik Sādiq al-Malā'ika, Abū al-Qāsim al-Shābbī and Abd aI-Rahmān Shukrī. This is discussed parallel with the channels of this influence. The main focus of this research is however, to show the ways in which al-Malā'ika, al-Shābbī and Shukrī perceived and reflected nature and death in their poetry. Their attitudes towards certain phenomena in nature such as the countryside, night, the sea, childhood and moral and social lessons of nature are compared with certain attitudes of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Shelley. Themes such as life and death, fear of death, fatalism, immortality and death as a welcome experience are also the concern of this thesis, with a comparison of these themes in the poetry of the Arab and English Romantic poets. However, owing to the popularity of Keats and Shelley with the three Arab Romantic poets, this thesis concentrates on their poetry. This research has selected only certain phenomena and themes from nature--and death because of the dominance of these subjects in the poetry of al-Malā'ika, al-Shābbī and Shukrī. The translations of Arabic poetry in this thesis are intended to convey the general sense of the source texts, rather than to give a precise rendering of these texts into English.

The edition is based on nine manuscripts. The work deals with the virtues of noble Abyssinians and is based on the earlier work by ibn al-Jawzi which it partly extends. The Arabic writings on the black races are reviewed from the beginnings of the genre to works influenced by Suyuti. Attention is therefore particularly given to Suyuti's predecessors and successors from the 2nd to the 11th centuries with special reference to the relations between Suyuti's work and that of ibn al-Jawzi. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part is the English introduction which consists of four chapters with the conclusions placed after Chapter Three. The first chapter deals with the works relevant to al-sudan and the Abyssinians. First, the two terms "al-Habashah" and "al-Sudan" are briefly discussed in an attempt to define their usage. The second chapter, which is a critical study of Kitab Raf Shan al-Hubshan, is divided into six sections, in the last section of which it will be shown how this book was more popular than ibn al-Jawzi's work' on which it was dependent. The third chapter provides biographical detail of al-Suyuti's life with some comments on the number of his works. The fourth chapter contains the description of the manuscripts and editing principles. Finally, the bibliography is provided at the end of this part. The second part consists of the list of works cited in the footnotes of the Arabic Text, the list of abbreviations used in these footnotes, the conventional signs used in the Text, the Text, and the indexes.

Bibliography: leaves 199-231. / 231 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 1997

This thesis examines the work of two of the twentieth century’s foremost cultural figures, the Palestinian-American literary critic Edward Said (1935-2003) and the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), and focuses specifically on the formulation and representation in their respective work of the theme of identity. It explores the depictions of this concept in their writing; comparing and contrasting their personal viewpoints on the various facets of their own identity as Palestinian Arabs and cosmopolitan global citizens expressed through their chosen literary medium, prose for Said and poetry for Darwish. At the same time, this analysis of the creative writing of these two authors will serve to shed light on the complex and ongoing process which is involved in identity formation and maintenance, and conceptualization of the self. Said and Darwish’s multi-conceptualisations of self-identity take place in Chapter Three, which is divided into seven zones of self-identity. Their understanding of self-identity is observed through the spaces of their names, language, family relationships, friendships, ethnicities, nationalism, hybrid identities, and cosmopolitanism. The concept of post-Nakba and Naksa literature maps the critical developments in evaluations of Arabic literature and, more particularly, Palestinian literature. The understanding of Palestinian cultural context requires an adequate assimilation regarding the impact of Nakba and Naksa in Palestinian literature, linked strongly with the general impact of Nakba in all Arab literature. The thesis begins by establishing the major socio-political, cultural and historical contexts which shaped the lives and work of Said and Darwish. Then using an innovative theoretical framework which draws on elements of post-colonial theory Said’s own contrapuntal technique and close textual analysis, the thesis explores a number of key facets pertaining to identity construction which it can be argued are of particular relevance to the Palestinian case. These include trauma, collective cultural memories, displacement, the Diasporic experience and the dream of return. At the same time, the thesis reveals how whilst both Said and Darwish remained dedicated to the Palestinian cause they adopted a cosmopolitan identity which was reflected in their respective work and its identification with diverse groups of oppressed peoples.

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Today many Middle Eastern states are experiencing political violence, either in the form of foreign occupation, civil war, revolution or coup d’état. This regional violence is not dissociated from international politics. In fact many foreign states are directly involved through influencing, financing or manipulating the situation, and have subsequently been the target of violent attacks themselves. Responding to this situation, a plethora of academic and artistic output concerning Middle Eastern terrorism has emerged from the West. These efforts, especially in English-language fiction, have been mainly reductive and simplistic and have contributed to furthering an atmosphere of mistrust and Islamophobia that emerged after 9/11. Yet in the decade following 9/11 little attention has been given to Middle Eastern writers who have been treating the subject of political violence in their own fiction and whose works are available in a variety of languages. This thesis analyzes five Middle Eastern novels that depict major regional conflict zones. Alaa Al-Aswany, Orhan Pamuk, Assaf Gavron, Yasmina Khadra, and Mohsin Hamid’s novels describe the nuances of their respective contexts: Egypt, Turkey, Israel/Palestine, Iraq and Pakistan. The following analyses highlight the complexity of Middle Eastern political violence and shed light on how these authors perceive or respond to Terrorism discourse in their fictions.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d’analyser les poèmes du recueil "Onze astres" de Maḥmūd Darwiš et d’y étudier l’importance de la notion d’identité et d’altérité qui s’en dégage. Nous avons, par ailleurs, adopté une approche intertextuelle pour révéler les variétés des références textuelles. Ce recueil met l'accent sur les évènements tragiques de l’histoire arabe que le poète met en relation avec d’autres épisodes survenus sur d’autres continents et qui posent la même problématique identitaire. Les poèmes commencent par la chute de Grenade en 1492, puis se poursuivent par la "Catastrophe" la (Nakba) palestinienne en 1948 et se terminent par la deuxième guerre du Golfe et l'accord de paix entre Israël et l'OLP en 1991. Chacun des poèmes du recueil s’inscrit dans le genre épique. Nous avons abordé l’épopée comme un moyen d’exprimer l’identité nationale des Palestiniens : elle incarne en effet la tragédie de ce peuple, leur défaite dans le passé et leur fin apocalyptique dans l’avenir. / This thesis aims to study the Identity and otherness in the poetry volume "Eleven planets" of Maḥmūd Darwiš. We have adopted an Intertextual approach to reveal the variety of the textual references in the poems. This volume is shedding lights on the tragic events in the Arabic history, which the poet bounded with the history of other nations who face an identity problem. The poems pursue a fixed and steady timing, which initially commencing with Granada falls tragedy in 1492, followed by the Palestinian "Catastrophe" in 1948 and finished in the events of the second Gulf war and the Peace Conference between Arabs and Israel in 1991. The whole volume based on epical genre. We have used the epic as a model to exprime the national identity of the Palestinians: it shows their tragedy, their defeat in the past and their apocalyptic destin in the future.

This literary study examines the formulation of masculinity in Syrian novels authored by women. The thesis covers the period between 1959 and 2000, corresponding to both the development of the female-authored novel in Syria and the creation of the modern Syrian state. This research engages with studies of masculinity in general and literary masculinity studies in particular. Drawing on the seminal work of Raewyn Connell as well as engaging with studies on masculinity and feminine narratology in Swedish, English and Arabic, the thesis analyses the formulation of literary masculinity through the fictional societies’ ideal masculinity on the one hand, and the female characters’ views and reactions to masculinity on the other. From a general survey of the field, 34 novels undertaking the formulation of gendered relations were identified and chosen for this study. From this selection, five themes emerged, forming the foundation of this thesis’ main chapters. The five themes explore, in turn, how stereotypes are utilised to critique gender roles, ways in which male and female characters collaborate to formulate gender norms, how female characters capitalise on patriarchy in order to enhance their lives, male characters as symbols for social and political change and finally, the difficulties included in the performance of masculinity. Each theme is exemplified through one novel, which is analysed in detail. Throughout the five chapters, the main novel chosen for analysis is put into conversation with other novels with similar themes but from different decades. This allows for an examination of changing ideals of masculinity in addition to the theme itself. The first theme, how stereotypes are utilised to critique gender roles, is studied through a close reading of al-Ẓahr al-‘ārī (The Naked back) by Hanrīyit ‘Abbūdī. The analysis illustrates how the expected normative behaviour of men and women is utilised in order to comment on the formulation of gender roles. The chapter further demonstrates ways in which what is seen as gender specific behaviour can be appropriated by the opposite gender. This is further developed through the examination of female writers taking over the male voice through a first person male narrator. The second theme, ways in which male and female characters collaborate to formulate gender norms, is discussed through a close reading of the novel Khaṭawāt fī al-ḍabāb (Steps in the fog) by Malāḥa al-Khānī. This chapter illustrates the similar expectations that both male and female characters have on their sons and fellow male characters. This includes taking on the role of provider and protector, even in the cases where the female characters are able to look after themselves. The third theme, how female characters capitalise on patriarchy in order to enhance their lives, is elaborated through a close reading of Ayyām ma‘ahu (Days with him) by Kūlīt Khūrī. This theme demonstrates how the female character constructs herself and her world around the idea of a perfect male, whom she thinks will save her. The analysis examines what is seen as ideal traits in a man. It further discusses the change of the female character and how her initial utilisation of patriarchal structure transforms into a critique of the same structure. The fourth theme, male characters as symbols for social and political change, is seen through a close reading of Dimashq yā basmat al-ḥuzn (Damascus, o smile of sadness) by Ulfat al-Idlibī. The chapter connects between changing social ideals and ideal masculinity. Through Bayrūt 75 (Beirut 75) by Ghāda al-Sammān, the fifth theme, the difficulties included in the performance of masculinity, is studied. The problematic masculinity presented is then put in contrast with what appears to be a suggestion that a performance of femininity could be an alternative to unsuccessful masculinity. Whereas the novels differ in their presentation of masculinity and the utilisation of ideal masculinity, they agree on a set of core traits summarised in a hegemonic ideal of masculinity as an ability to provide and protect. The ways in which this should be performed is however closely connected to the female characters’ ideas of emancipation and women’s rights. The female writers’ formulation of masculinity can hence be said to mirror the development of the female characters and their awareness of women’s rights. The thesis hopes that its original contribution to knowledge is the identification and examination of constructed masculinities in Syrian female-authored fiction. Moreover, this thesis studies a body of Syrian fiction previously largely unstudied in Western academia, and in a framework of Swedish, English and Arabic secondary sources.