How does oil transform nations into “magical states”? The Oil encounter in modern Arabic fiction

In spite of the great significance that the discovery of oil and the development of the oil industry have had, not only on the societies of the oil countries but on the shape of the modern world, it may be surprising to find little representation of petroleum in literary and artistic works. Amitav Ghosh (b. 1956), a Hindu-Bengali novelist writing in English was the first to draw attention to this surprising lack of petrofiction – novels addressing the issues of petroleum and what he termed the “oil encounter”. The discussion on the cultural and literary response to petroleum initiated by Ghosh is being continued by scholars from different countries in a variety of contexts and expanded to include ever newer dimensions. In my research I will explore what themes and forms were taken by literary responses to the significance of oil in the Arab world. Firstly, I will attempt to place the analyzed works in the context of contemporary petrofiction. Secondly, I will try to broaden the context of analysis to include a regional dimension in terms of the unique character of the impact that the discovery of oil has had on Arab societies. Finally, I will try to define the points of contact for all these perspectives.