Debunking the Myths of Colonization: The Arabs and Europe

by Samar Attar

Debunking the Myths of Colonization . examines Salman Rushdie's thesis on the paradoxical nature of colonialism and its horrific impact on the psyche of the colonized. It probes Frantz Fanon's theories concerning the relationship between colonizers and colonized, and attempts to apply these theories to modern Arabic literature. Like Rushdi and Fanon, many Arab writers have embarked on a journey to the metropolis of their ex-colonial masters. Due to their encounter with English or French culture, they have written memoirs, poems, or fictions in which they have represented themselves and the 'other.' Their representations differ markedly according to their own make up as human beings, their class, education, experiences, and gender. Yet what brings them together is their love-hate relationship with the ex-colonizer. In the case of the Palestinian writers, however, there is only bitterness and bewilderment at Israel as a colonizing power in the 21st century and its Jewish citizens, who were once victims in Europe but now have turned into victimizers.

Genres: History

316 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2010

About the author

Samar Attar was born in Damascus, Syria. She studied at Damascus University (two Licence es Lettres degrees, English and Arabic Literature), Dalhousie
University, Canada (M.A., English Literature), and State University of New York at Binghamton (Ph.D., Comparative Literature: English, French, German). She taught English, Arabic, and Comparative Literature
in the United States, Canada, Algeria, West Germany, Australia, and Turkey.

During 1990-1991, she was a Rockefeller Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and in 1994-1995, 1999-2000, and 2003-2006 a
visiting research scholar at Harvard.

She has extensive publications in both English and Arabic in the fields of literary criticism, gender studies, migration, philosophy, translation, language
teaching, and creative writing. Her books include The Intruder in Modern Drama (Frankfurt am Main 1981), A Journey at Night: Poems by Salah ‘Abd
Al-Sabur (Cairo, 1970),
Modern Arabic For Foreign Students, four volumes plusteacher’s manual and seventeen cassettes (Beirut, 1988 and 1991),
The Arab European Encounter:An Advanced Course for Foreign Students (Beirut, 1998) and
Grammar in Context (Beirut, 1998).
She has two novels: Lina: A Portrait of A
Damascene Girl (Beirut, 1982 in Arabic and Colorado Springs, 1994 in English), and The House On Arnus Square (Sydney, 1988 in Arabic and Pueblo,
Colorado, 1998 in English).
Her poems have appeared in anthologies in
Canada, the United States, and England, including The Penguin Book of Women Poets (London, 1978) and Women of the Fertile Crescent (Washington, 1981). Herradio play Australia Day appeared in Australian Writing 1988 (Penguin).