The Implicit Cultural Patterns in Ahmed Nasr's Novel A Flicker in the Wall of the Night

Abstract

This research approaches the novel A Flicker in the Wall of the Night from a cultural perspective, focusing specifically on its representations of women. The significance of the study lies in its focus on a fictional character who has not previously been examined in this novel, with the aim of uncovering how women are represented within it; exposing the cultural patterns that the author unconsciously reproduced and that consequently shaped his representations of women; and demonstrating the contradiction between what the author consciously sought to dismantle and what he unwittingly reinforced under the influence of the underlying cultural pattern. The study further examines the effect of this contradiction on the reader. In doing so, it seeks to answer the following research questions: How were women represented in the novel A Flicker in the Wall of the Night? Were the representations of women in the novel diverse and reflective of reality, or did they instead serve the author's own agenda and vision? Or were they, in fact, stereotypical representations that contradicted what the author explicitly advocated? And if the representations were indeed stereotypical, what effect did this contradiction have on the reader? Moreover, what are the implicit cultural patterns that governed these representations of women? To achieve these aims, the research draws on the methods of cultural criticism and Austin's concept of speech acts.