The Changing Image of the Heroine in the Arabic Female Bildungsromane

The article examines two Arabic novels: Emily Na rall ah’s uy ur Ayl ul (Birds of September) (1962) and Sumayya Rama an’s Awr aq al-Narjis (Leaves of Narcissus) (2001) with reference to the conventions of the Bildungsroman. Comparisons and contrasts are made between these two novels and American and Turkish female Bildungsromane in order to establish the distinctive narrative characteristics and thematic concerns of this special type of novel in Arabic literature. Birds of September, it is argued, furnishes the first example of Arab female Bildungsroman, in which the main action revolves around the heroine’s fervent pursuit of self-definition in a remarkably restrictive patriarchal society which hardly accommodates the personal desires, ambitions and the exercise of individual freedom of women. The same pattern is found in Leaves of Narcissus, whose heroine is a more sophisticated version of that of Birds of September. In contrast with Muna’s mild protest against hostile patriarchal patterns of behaviour and traditions, Kimi is willing to take on society in a more radical fashion.