Writing as Re-enchantment

About this book

For a more profound understand of present-day Middle East, a closer look at the vivid literary debates on Identity in the Arab world and Turkey are beneficial and eligible. A recurring theme in these debates has been the contrasting juxtaposition between European modernity and local cultural tradition. Is total rejection of the own past necessary to become true modernists? If not, how can one relate to tradition, avoiding taking a forfeited, reactionary position? This thesis will examine the revival of Islamic mysticism in the 20th century, a significant cornerstone to both cultural traditions, in the contemporary Arabic and Turkish novel. To what extend could the turn to Islamic mysticism in both Near Eastern literatures be seen a process of critical Self-examination? Is the appropriation of mystical language, tropes and philosophy by contemporary Arabic and Turkish literati an attempt to reconcile with the past and overcome cultural paradoxes? Or is this phenomenon rather to be seen as a regional manifestation of a postmodern "Re-enchantment" that, aligned with critics of modernity such as Weber, Heidegger and T.S Eliot, seek to heal a disenchanted world and provide endowment wi…