This essay is part of a series on shifting narratives in Syrian literature, guest edited by Syrian novelist Rosa Yassin Hassan. Read this essay in Arabic here.
In the past two decades, the Syrian novel has witnessed serious attempts to renew its narrative techniques. In fact, this change in artistic taste, or perhaps in writers’ and recipients’ perspectives on society, might have been a fundamental factor that altered the face of literary production and reception during this period.
Several reasons might have caused this change: the Arab renaissance projects that were cut off and transformed into ideological theorization devoid of content, and the subsequent introversion of the intellectual person after failing to create a reality that matches the level of their ambition. There was also the incarceration of most intellectuals interested in political affairs and partisan work, as well as their escape to work abroad, or their banishment to say the least from political work ei