Rethinking space : the representation of the city in the Moroccan novel in Arabic reading Muhammad Zafzaf and Muhammad Shukri / Mbarek Sryfi ; advisor Roger M. A. Allen

Ph.D. : Near Eastern languages and civilizations : University of Pennsylvania : 2018

This dissertation examines the under-studied subject of urban space in the context of the Moroccan literary heritage. In examining this topic, I argue that a study of how city space is portrayed in the Moroccan novel in Arabic is a useful contribution to the overall study of the importance of space in fiction. This dissertation re-reads, examines, and analyzes the use of the city space in four Moroccan novels in Arabic, and then critically re-evaluates both space and spatiality as used by two Moroccan authors; Muhammad Shukri and Muhammad Zafzaf. The present study focuses on four novels by these two literary authors, works that provide representative portraits of the two cities under study-Tangier and Casablanca- in order to highlight the Moroccan city, and its evolving role from a mere background to an actively productive element. These novels allow for a critical inquiry into the Moroccan socio-cultural and political scenes. This dissertation suggests a way to view space not as container but, in Lefebvre's words, rather as "the very fabric of social existence." Through a close exegesis, applying interpretative strategies from spatial theories, this study investigates the way the city as a literary tool is represented in the Moroccan novel in Arabic.