UC Santa Barbara

This dissertation examines a literary mode of terror that has recently flourished in Iraqi and Egyptian fiction, addressing the trauma of war and revolution. This literary mode is best represented by a group of emerging writers who witnessed dramatic changes in their home countries after the Iraq War (2003-2011) and the Egyptian revolution of 2011. These events shocked people to the core and left indelible traumatic memories that have shaped their socio-political consciousness. Arabic fiction recorded these changes by developing a new mode of writing that sought to reflect the intense terror and fear experienced by the general population. This new mode dramatizes traumatic circumstances and induces feelings of fright and repulsion, relying on tragic stories, supernatural elements, dark allegories, and apocalyptic themes. This mode has introduced new paradigms of trauma that not only depict past memories but also anticipate impending trauma that threatens to devastate the future of individuals as well as nations. These writers also focus on topics that have been taboos in the Arab World, including graphic descriptions of sex, open discussions of politics, and criticism of religion. Consulting trauma theory, I argue that placing this mode within a context of trauma helps us understand this dramatic change in contemporary Arabic fiction.