Challenging the Ideal: al-Diya’ as Labiba Hashim's Stepping Stone

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Abstract

Toward the end of the 19th century, when the nahda (Arab Awakening)
was at its peak, many Arabic newspapers and journals were founded in
Greater Syria and Egypt. One of these journals was al-Diya’. Although
newspapers and magazines during the Arabic nahda have been researched
extensively, al-Diya’, published by Ibrahim al-Yaziji from 1898
to 1906, has received scant attention. This article examines a key feature
of this newspaper: the short stories it published by Labiba Hashim, one
of the leading women writers in the late nahda. It inspects her earlier
fictional short stories (uqsusa) and shows that al-Diya’ served as a stepping
stone for her future career and shaped her literary approach. Like
several other women writers in the nahda, Hashim's stories defy the
typical depiction narrative of women's ideal life of love, family and marriage
so characteristic of novels of that period by presenting conflicts and
circumstances faced by women in their daily lives.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPress and Mass Communication in the Middle East
Subtitle of host publicationFestschrift for Martin Strohmeier
EditorsBörte Sagaster, Theoharis Stavrides, Birgitt Hoffmann
Place of PublicationBamberg
Publisher University of Bamberg Press
Pages219-236
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9783863095284
ISBN (Print)9783863095277
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

Publication series

NameBamberger Orientstudien
Volume12

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