Abstract :
This article seeks to examine to what extent al-Kawn ı’s first novel, the four-volume work
al-Khus uf, may legitimately be considered a work of ‘magical realism’ and, if so, what
distinguishes it from other examples of this genre. To this effect it engages in a detailed
study of three themes which dominate the plot of the novel: first, historical references to
a succession of imperialist attempts at subjugating the Sahara desert; secondly,
references to indigenous mythology concerning the interface between gender relations
and the relation between man and nature in the Saharan context; and thirdly, references
to traditional magical practices and the apparent magical powers of the natural world.
The article ends by placing the treatment of these themes in al-Kawn ı’s novel into the
wider context of magic realist writing by comparative reference to a number of key
studies on the subject.
