The Grapes of-Wrath and Egyptian Earth:Two Political Novels. | ||||
| مجلة بحوث کلية الآداب . جامعة المنوفية | ||||
| Article 8, Volume 13, Issue 49, April 2002, Page 71-92 PDF (4 MB) | ||||
| Document Type: المقالة الأصلية | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/sjam.2002.140604 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
| Abdel Moneim Aly* | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Interest in studying the political perspective of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939) has always been shown in previous studies of Steinbeck’s work,’ but no previous study has linked it with A R. Sharkawi’s Egyptian Earth (1954), a novel sharing the same theme. This study attempts to compare the two novels from a political perspective. Irving Howe contends that a political novel is: a novel in which Ive take to be dominant political ideas or the political milieu, a novel which permits this assumption without thereby suffering any radical distortion and, it follows, with the possibility of some analytical profit. 2 is a novel in which ideas and ideology take the centre stage in the perspective of observation of the author. Both novels focus on the idea that the loss of land leads to a loss of dignity. The peasant for Sharkawi represents the Egyptian persona and stands for Egypt as a nation and a country. The Oklahoma farm labourers represent the honourable hardworking Americans and offer an ’objective correlative’ for the American dream. Both writers upheld ideology over art in their novels. Thus the narrative technique is sacrificed to project ideology. In both works, art is encumbered by and sacrificed to ideology. This study tries to discuss these points and ~o show how far the two writers presented t~eir material. AR. Sharkawi (1920-1987) established his fa interest he had in portra’ in his war e life Fellahin or the Egypti peas t workers. (AI-Ardh), p in Arabic in 1 translation Desmond Stewart in 1962, is his es 1 interest. re is much in the novel that could be compar American counterpart by John Steinbeck (1902- 1968), his opus, The Grapes of Wrath in which he depicted the life of roan immigrant farm labourers and their suffering during the depression | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| The Grapes of-Wrath; Egyptian Earth; Political fiction | ||||
|
Statistics Article View: 120 PDF Download: 209 |
||||
