Watching Through a Frame: Windows and Balconies as Motifs in Contemporary Diasporic Arab Literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1308.15Keywords:
Diaspora, war, windows & balconies, Layla AlAmmar, Rawi HageAbstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the use of windows and balconies in Layla AlAmmar’s Silence Is A Sense (2021) and Rawi Hage’s Beirut Hellfire Society (2018). In these two works, written by diasporic Arab writers, the two literary motifs of the window and the balcony play a significant role in framing the political, social, and cultural conditions the characters live in. The two motifs have long been recurrent in literature, carrying a variety of connotations. However, when it comes to diasporic Arab writers, windows and balconies would carry entirely new implications in the contexts of war or in diaspora. Through a close reading of the two texts, this study focuses on the representation of windows and balconies. It focuses on the role the window and the balcony play in helping characters either to connect with or disconnect from the outside world.
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