Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Yasmina Khadra’s The African Equation (2011): An Orientalist Reading
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Date
2022
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University OF Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
The discrepancy between the East and West has been a significant concern in the postcolonial fiction. This dissertation seeks then, to undertake a postcolonial analysis of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Yasmina Khadra’s The African Equation (2011) within the framework of Edward Said’s Orientalism. This dissertation aims to analyse the manifestations ofthe orientalist discourse and the representation of the Other in the two novels. The research focuses on the Orient-Occident dichotomy, distortion of Islam, false image of the Orient, the practice of othering, and the superior image of the West. The methodology of the discussion involves firstly the ways the characters reflect Said’s designation of the “Other” and how he is represented. Then, it examines the orientalist discourse incorporated through the characters’ speeches, attitude, and way of thinking towards the Easterners. The analysis has revealed the gap that stands between the East and the West. It has shown the importance of geography in embodying the Other with stereotypes and flawed representation. This research also discloses the Western’s preconceived ideas produced through the orientalist discourse. Besides, it has proved how the aforementioned discourse consists of myths and untrue depiction of the Orient.
Description
74p. ; 30cm.+(cd)
Keywords
Orient, Occident, Orientalist Discourse, Other, Orientalism, Postcolonial fiction.
Citation
Literature and Interdisciplinary Approaches