Middle Eastern Literary and Religious Allusions in Aḥmad Murād’s Novel “The Blue Elephant”

P. 300–311.

E.M. Koloskova

The novel Al-Fīl al-ˀAzraq, written by the Egyptian author Aḥmad Murād and published in Cairo by Dār aš-Šurūq in 2012, is one of the most successful examples of a Middle Eastern adaptation of such a manifestly Western genre as the mystical thriller. The reason behind this success is a skillful intermingling of the thriller narrative scheme with Middle Eastern mythology. Throughout his work, Murād uses multiple references and allusions to prominent sources of Middle Eastern spiritual and intellectual traditions, among which the most salient cases are the Qur’ān, the Gospels, the famous lexicon Lisān al-ˁArab and Al-Ǧabartī’s History of Egypt.

Keywords: Ближний Восток, Middle East, folklore, фольклор, drugs, сверхъестественное, magic, синтетические наркотики, магический реализм, Arabic Literature, черная магия, новейшая арабская литература, египетский роман, Egyptian Novel, Aḥmad Murād, Al-Fīl al-ˀAzraq, The Blue Elephant, supernatural, magic realism, Ахмад Мурад, Голубой слон

In book

Синергия языков и культур 2021: Междисциплинарные исследования

St. Petersburg: ., 2022.