Ibrāhīm al -Kūnī\u27s magical realist writings: A psychoanalytical approach

The aim of this study is to offer psychoanalytical readings of two of Ibrahim al-K uni\u27s magical realist novels— al-Khusuf and al-Majus . Almost all of Kuni\u27s novels are set in the desert. In his humanistic concern for his homeland, he takes on several issues such as the invasion of technology (Land Rover, Helicopter, western companies drilling oil) and the impact of modernity on desert life. On the philosophical level, he focuses on relationships between men and nature (plain, mountain, fauna, flora); men and animals (camels, wolves, snakes, waddans, a type of mountain goat, and many others); and men and invisible jinn. He also focuses on the meaning of life and search for the soul. Ultimately things seem to coalesce around one focal point, the dialectic of freedom. To him, freedom is the essence of living in the desert. Freedom justifies enduring the hardships of the desert. Some critics have pointed to the presence of magical realist elements in Kuni\u27s works. However, what makes Kuni\u27s writing unique and different from other magical realist works, in fact, is that most of his magic comes from the indigenous beliefs and myths which serve as the guidelines for desert inhabitants\u27 daily lives. The core of Kuni \u27s novels, as we will see in the analysis, may be termed mythical because of his abundant use of myths, legends and other mythical elements, such as epigraphs and aphorisms. Given that magic in magical realist texts are deeply metaphorical and symbolic, psychoanalysis emerges as an effective method for eliciting these latent aspects. Both Freud\u27s and Jung\u27s theories provide effective means for reading what is between the lines. The magical elements in Kuni\u27s novels create a powerful reality that transcends semantic boundaries, and conveys a discourse that aspires to relate larger-than-life stories. This study demonstrates that both Freud\u27s and Jung\u27s conceptions in psychoanalysis enable us to understand the coherence and complexity of the seemingly oxymoronic elements in the binary opposition of magic and reality