LAUSR

This essay argues that the concept of the homeland, in Arabic “al-Watan – الوطن,” is central to most of al-Muqri’s works. The essay uses postcolonial perspectives to read two of his major novels, “Adani Incense” and “The Handsome Jew,” to examine how the notion of the homeland is viewed by the author and to what extent it reflects his main concerns. In “Adani Incense,” the essay discusses al-Muqri’s critical view of cultural displacement, what is referred to in this essay as the process of hybridization and resistance, in the former colonized city of Aden and how the hybrid culture, in the long run, has created a fatal crisis in the city that ultimately led to the rising of the question, “Who is Adani?” The essay further elaborates how the author has skilfully used the cultural crisis and the voice of resistance to criticize people’s views of the concept of homeland. The question of homeland, however, appears to be more intense in his earlier novel, “The Handsome Jew,” in which the romantic story serves as the vehicle to illustrate the oppression and marginalization of the Jewish minority, as well as to deliver his main concern, “What is a nation?” Thus, the question of nation, and its meaning, is central to both novels.