The Family Theme in Naguib Mahfouz’s and Ba Jin’s Trilogy: A Comparative Study
Abstract
Family is an ancient literary subject. From primitive myths and legends to works of contemporary magical realism, generations of literati and writers have tirelessly told the family’s story to the world. This research examines the theme of family in the Naguib Mahfouz and Ba Jin trilogy from the perspective of cross-cultural studies and aims to point out the multiple connections between both trilogies by means of illustrating their similarity and differences. This research reveals that Naguib Mahfouz and Ba Jin describe family life from an almost similar perspective. The similarities are wrapped in the form of the roles in the family, the patriarchal hierarchy, the dictatorship over children, the culture metaphors in patriarchal narration, the unhappy women, and the fact that each of the two writers wrote the novel to talk about his real world. On the contrary, the differences lie in the idealism in family, the use of family background, the complexity of China, the simplicity of Arab, and the different political circumstances.
References
Ary, et al. (2010). Introduction to Research in Education. Wadsworth: Nelson Education Ltd. p. 772.
Guangli, Mi. (2020). Naguib Mahfouz and Ba Jin Trilogy: Comparative Study. ARID International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (AIJSSH), 2 (4), 2020, pp. 132-148.
Gui-ju, Ren. (2020). On the Drama Adaptation of Ba Jin’s Torrent Trilogy. Journal of Dalian University, 41 (2), 2020, pp. 42-54.
Hezam, A. M. M., & Al-Moghales, M. A. (2016). Mulk Raj Anand’s Punjab Trilogy and Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy: A Comparative Study. International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies, 4 (1), 2016, pp. 54-57.
Hougang, Zhu. (2020). Look at Barkin’s Ambivalence from the Torrents Trilogy. Southern Cultural Forum, 2020, pp. 23-28.
Jian-ke, Fan. (2007). Role Character Feature Research in Three Systems of Ba Jin’s Torrents Trilogy. Journal of Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute, 19 (2), 2007, pp. 95-98.
Kaiyue, Yang. (2012). The Feature of Figurative in Torrent Trilogy by Ba Jin. A Dissertation for the Degree of M.Arts. Hebei University, 2012.
Liang, Juntong. (2019). A Comparative Study of Ba Jin and Mahfouz from the Perspective of Patriarchy, Atlantis Press, 2019.
Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2003). Culture and psychology (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Moussa-Mahmoud, Fatma. (1981). The Outsider in the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz. British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Bulletin, 1981, pp. 99-107. DOI: 10.1080/13530198108705317.
Naem, A., D. and Janoory, L. N. (2020). The Cairo Trilogy: An Existential Reading in Three Generations of this Novel. BirLE-Journal: Budapest International Research and Critics in Linguistics and Education, 3 (1), 2020, pp. 1-10.
Nukrah, M. H. A., Muthanna, A. N. G., & Biag, M. S. (2021). The Depiction of Women in the Selected Novels of Naguib Mahfouz. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies, 5 (1), 2021, pp. 32-39.
Oman, Abdulfatah & Alhassan, M. A. M. (2020). A Socio-pragmatic Analysis of Women and Gender Roles in John Galsworthy’s Forsyte Saga and Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy. International Journal of English Linguistics, 10 (2), 2020, pp. 284-293.
Ping, Shi. (2019). Female Consciousness and Female Writing in Ba Jin’s Torrents Trilogy. Journal of Heilongjiang College of Education, 38 (7), 2019, pp. 108-110.
Sazzad, Rehnuma. (2013) Life Would be a Meaningless Game and a Bad Joke Without Freedom: Naguib Mahfouz as an Oppositional Writer. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communications, 6, 2013, pp. 194-212.
Shrouji-Shajrawi, Clara. (2014). The Shadow of Hegel in the Cairo Trilogy. Middle Eastern Literature, 17 (1), 2014, pp. 1-24.
Song, Y. J. (1992). On the Characters in Ba Jin’s Novels, Jinan, Shandong Literature and Art Publishing House, 1992, pp. 178-190.
Stapleton, Kristin. (2018). Family. London: Routledge.
Su, Tsung. (1990). New Women versus Old Mores: A Study of Women Characters in Ba Jin’s Torrents Trilogy. Chinese Studies in History, 23 (3), 1990, pp. 54-67.
Telman, M. Z. (2020). Phenomenon of Naguib Pasha Mahfouz. Научен вектор на Балканите, 1 (7), 2020, pp. 81-83.
Tian Y. F. (2016). Study on the Form of Ba Jin’s Novels, Shanghai, Fudan University Press, 2016, pp. 132-140.
Xie, Y. (2016). Study on Naguib Mahfouz, Yinchuan, Ningxia People’s Publishing House, 2016, pp. 245-257.
Ye, Y. S. (2005). A Study of the Saga Novels of Modern China, East China Normal University, 2005, pp. 132-138.
Yingxue, Wang. (2021). Inheritance and Breakthrough on The Dream of Red Mansions by Ba Jin’s Torrent Trilogy. Journal of Heihe University, 9, 2021, pp. 140-145.
Yu, J. (2000). A Comparative Study of Mahfouz’s and Ba Jin’s Family Novels from the Perspective of Metaphoric Culture. Journal of Guangxi Normal University, 2000, pp. 51-55.
Copyright (c) 2023 Saffana Alsied, Liang Bin
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
