The Concept of the Hero in Modern Arabic Prose

This article presents some observations on modern Arabic prose through the concept of the hero, an essential element in the structure of any fictional work, helping to determine its style, plot, composition and other features. A number of novels and short stories published over the last few years by Arab writers from Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Palestine are examined in this light. The article argues that the Arabic literature of the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century reveals a less optimistic outlook than works dating from the first half of the 20th century, and that many individuals treated in contemporary works have lost their self-reliance and confidence in the value of existence in a world now full of ‘imponderables’. In this respect, these works echo current tendencies in world literature as a whole.