Ways of Seeking
eBook - ePub

Ways of Seeking

The Arabic Novel and the Poetics of Investigation

  1. 233 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Ways of Seeking

The Arabic Novel and the Poetics of Investigation

About this book

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

In Ways of Seeking, Emily Drumsta traces the influence of detective fiction on the twentieth-century Arabic novel. Theorizing a “poetics of investigation,” she shows how these novels, far from staging awe-inspiring feats of logical deduction, mock the truth-seeking practices on which modern exercises of colonial and national power are often premised. Their narratives return to the archives of Arabic folklore, Islamic piety, and mysticism to explore less coercive ways of knowing, seeing, and seeking. Drumsta argues that scholars of the Middle East neglect the literary at their peril, overlooking key critiques of colonialism from the intellectuals who shaped and responded through fiction to the transformations of modernity. This book ultimately tells a different story about the novel’s place in the constellation of Arab modernism, modeling an innovative method of open-ended inquiry based on the literary texts themselves.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Ways of Seeking by Emily Drumsta in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Littérature & Critique littéraire. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Subvention
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Notes on Transliteration, Translation, and Abbreviations
  8. Introduction: Toward a Poetics of Investigation
  9. 1. The Detective as Conscript: Tawfiq al-Hakim and Driss Chraïbi on the Margins of the Law
  10. 2. Murder on the ʿIzbah: Spectral Legality and Egyptian Sensation Fiction, Yusuf Idris to Yusuf al-Qaʿid
  11. 3. Bureau of Missing Persons: Metaphysical Detection and the Subject in Jabra Ibrahim Jabra and Naguib Mahfouz
  12. 4. Effacing the Author, or the Detective as Medium: Fathi Ghanim and Elias Khoury
  13. 5. Epic Fails: Sonallah Ibrahim’s Modern Myths of Seeking
  14. Epilogue: Monstrous Omniscience
  15. Acknowledgments
  16. Notes
  17. Bibliography