Representative Images of Saudi Arabia and Saudis: An Imagological Study of Some Selected Novels in English

Abstract

The image of the Orient has been a “construct” of the West, emerging from a dualistic dichotomy of East versus West, or the subject encountering the “Other”—the subservient other that needs the “civilizing mission” of the West (mission civilisatrice in the sarcastic words of Edward Said). In the contemporary scene, the images of Saudi Arabia and the Saudis in western novelistic discourse has not displayed much change, or it may have taken different forms under the effect of the demise of the old colonialism and the prevalence of globalization, especially in the cultural sphere. The Orient has woven itself into Western culture through translations and English-language writings, shaping its own image and sparking significant interest due to the substantial political and economic influence of contemporary Saudi Arabia. The current study investigates some representative images of Saudi Arabia and Saudis in Anglophone narratives of English-speaking novelists, native Saudis’ novels in English, and translations of Native Saudis’ novels. This adds a discussion of the image of the orient created by the orient itself. In analysing these images, the study explores numerous examples, comparing and contrasting them in the manner of imagology, with special reference to three representative narratives: Hilary Mantel’s Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1988), Ghazi Al-Gosaibi’s Freedom Apartment (1994/1996), and Eman Quotah’s Bride of the Sea (2021).