Dystopian World in Quarantine Philosopher of Wajdi Al-Ahdal

Abstract

Dystopian literature has appeared with the approach of the 21 century as a response to the utopian literature. It comes to reveal unseen threats that result from the new discoveries, cause environmental damage to the earth and its inhabitants. It creates imagined communities that feel dehumanized and frightened. It goes further and beyond its definition targeting young adults who become familiar with and aware of the advance of technology and science. For that, this research aims at deciphering some dystopic features in Wajdi Al-Ahdal’s Quarantine Philosopher. It brings to light how life becomes difficult and unbearable to sustain. Quarantine Philosopher comes out with a philosophical view of the dystopic world Arab that Arab live in that is created by dictatorship and the foreign colonizer. The study is a critical trace and analysis to the dystopic city, Zimah. Al-Ahdal provides his reader with some views and perceptions on the political and social practices that led to the chaotic situation in Arab world. He designs an imaginative world that Arabs are to be caged in due to the colonial and postcolonial politics.