Fragility and Failure or Being an Anti/hero in Contemporary Arab Literature
If we were to summarize the types of protagonists from the Greek epics to today's Netflix series, we would say that in the end there are only two types: the heroes and superheroes that we will never be, and the ordinary characters who are so real and so painfully human that if they weren't in a book or on the screen, we would simply avoid them and stare at the ceiling until they went away. While it is easy to understand the fascination with the first type, the power of Achilles, the beauty of Cinderella and the justice of Batman, it is hard to explain the pleasure of reading Don Quixote's humiliating journeys, Frankenstein's loneliness, Raskolnikov's inner torment. By exploring themes of memory, powerlessness, fragility, death and time, this course aims to encourage participants to reflect on the positionality of contemporary individuals and their relationship to the world. It also aims to encourage dwelling on the functions of literature and the contexts and circumstances that make its works. The course combines theoretical and literary readings with short films. Each participant is required to give a presentation on one of the suggested readings or other texts that fit the theme.
Proposed readings:
Theory
Ernest Becker, The denial of Death
Josef Campbell, The hero with a thousand Faces
Jeorge Lukas, The theory of the Novel
Victor Brombert, In Praise of Antiheroes
Short stories
Malika Mousdaraf, 36
Hassan Balasim, The madman of the Freedom Square
Rasha Abbas, Die Erfindung der deutschen Grammatik
Abdallah Naser, The art of letting go
Short movies
Karim Shaaban, Night shift, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-aamvlT5C4
Faouzi Bensaidi, Le mur, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KBkik-f-2Y&t=613s
- Lehrende/r: Asmaa Essakouti