Mitigating Estrangement Through Autofiction: Domestic Discord, War, and Exile in the Works of Hanan Al-Shaykh

Abstract

This study portrays the theme of estrangement in the life and literary oeuvre of Hanan Al-Shaykh. It argues that her narrative technique of “autofiction,” a hybrid of autobiography and fiction, is a potent platform for resisting estrangement. Al-Shaykh's heroines paint a reflective canvas embodying the broader story that resonates with countless women experiencing alienation away from shattered roots and homelands. The research explores various estrangement facets, beginning with family alienation involving maternal abandonment and patriarchal coercion in Al-Shaykh's life. A second alienation arises from the destructive role of war in Lebanon, which not only crushes women in general but also marginalizes women writers from the canon of war literature despite their nuanced viewpoint on caregiving. The study then delves into a third estrangement caused by expatriation: the fate of millions of Lebanese women like Al-Shaykh, who live a diasporic existence struggling with a deep identity crisis, accentuated by cultural and linguistic disconnections in their foreign milieus, while traditional patriarchal expectations haunt them to their exile. This exploration culminates in reflecting on the reciprocal relationship between Al-Shaykh's life and her literary creation, as her heroines exemplify the capacity of autofiction to articulate universal estrangements rooted in personal torment.