Table of Contents

Note on Translations and Transliterations | ix
Acknowledgments | xi
Preface: The Ethics of Reading | xv
Introduction. The Quʾran as (Inter)text: Embodiment, Praxis, Critique | 1
Part I: Poetics of Piety
1. Existential Poiesis in Maḥmūd al-Masʿadī’s Mawlid al-nisyān | 37
2. Carnivals of Heterodoxy in Abdelwahab Meddeb’s Talismano | 58
Part II: Ethics of Embodiment
3. Apocalyptic Aftershocks in al-Ṭāhir Waṭṭār’s Al-zilzāl | 83
4. The Polyphonic Hermeneutics of Assia Djebar’s L’amour, la fantasia | 100
Part III: Genealogies of Transmission
5. Tense Eruptions in Driss Chraïbi’s Le passé simple | 119
6. Threads of Transmission in Muḥammad Barrāda’s Luʿbat al-nisyān | 141
Epilogue: Poetics, Politics, Piety | 159
Glossary | 167
Notes | 171
Bibliography | 213
Index | 231

About the Author

Hoda El Shakry is Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

A pioneering undertaking that has much to offer to scholars and students of modern Maghreb and Arabic literature, Hoda El Shakry's The Literary Qur'an: Narrative Ethics in the Maghreb provides a model for future research in the field... El Shakry has enriched the Arabic library and the library of comparative and world literature with a spirited book that is well-written, timely, and original.-- "Journal of Arabic Literature"

The Literary Qur'an provides an exceptionally rich framework for considering how religion informs the reading of North African literature. With agility and grace, the book presents clear arguments, imaginative readings, and pathways for teaching, thinking, and reflecting on these literary novels.-- "Michael Allan, University of Oregon"