Death and Continuity

This study proposes the feminist sublime as a basis for the interpretation of three modern Arabic novels written by women. Even though the sublime appears in classical Western literature, psychoanalysis, Biblical exegesis, Buddhist, Arabo-Islamic works of literature and others, feminist objectives have led to the reconfiguration of the concept.The novels analyzed are Woman at Point Zero by Nawāl al-Saʻdāwī, The Story of Zahra by Ḥanān al-Shaykh and Night of the First Billion by Ghādah al-Sammān. Myth and symbol, as well as tragedy, parody, satire, passive resistance, being and becoming, sexuality, sacrifice, and death in the three novels, are discussed in the framework of the feminist sublime.