SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis sets out to examine the portrayal of women as an important literary aspect of the Libyan short story. An attempt has been made to identify the main features of such portrayals and to point out the degree to which major short story writers in Libya are conscious, in one way or another, of the importance of the problems confronting Libyan women and the need for their emancipation. The method adopted for this purpose is to discuss the varying levels of consciousness of the problem against a background of modern literary criticism which, although not fully developed in Libya, is nonetheless becoming increasingly important. As a corollary, it has been possible to discuss various ideological attitudes only in relation to the formal and structural issues which are often raised regarding the short story as a literary genre. Among these issues are the organic interdependence of form and content, success or failure in attempting to objectify human experience in an adequate artistic form, and the degree to which ideological considerations or commitment can be regarded as relevant to our appreciation of the Libyan short story as an art-form. The degree of ideological commitment to the problem of female emancipation is not, in itself, a determinant of artistic success, but it may pave the way for literary creation in which a progressive role for women in Libyan society is combined with fuller consciousness of the importance of the formal elements of the Libyan short story.