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- Thursday, April 21, 1983
- Thomas Hardy , Fateh Mudarres , and the Exploration of the Psychology of Choice
- Published at:Algerian publications Bureau , Alger ( A paper delivered at the 1st comparative literature international conference , hosted by the Institute of languages and literatures of Annaba University , Algeria , 1983 )
Of all Arab writers whose works of literature I’m acquainted with , Fateh Mudarres , a contemporary Syrian painter and author of short stories , is the one who , in vision , attitude towards , and treatment of , subject , most notably the central role given to physical nature , and attitude to religion , comes closest to that half-Victorian and half- modernist novelist , Thomas Hardy.
Within the two media of the short story and novel , both portray a world where it seems ever the destiny of Good to be ground by Evil , where social injustice is rife and feudalism , economic as well as moral , is still the fashion and , in brief , where spiritual melancholy , darkness and death reign supreme . An ancient and a lasting theme, indeed!
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