Representation of the Intellectual Woman in Rabih Alameddine’s an Unnecessary Woman

Abstract

Abstract: This paper reveals Rabih Alameddine’s representation of an Arab intellectual in his novel Unnecessary Woman through the characterization of his protagonist Aaliya. It focuses on the portrayal of Aaliya as a self-reliant powerful woman who has the ability to break down the stereotypes associated to typical ordinary women. She is depicted as Godless woman who declares her nonreligious spirit and reinvents herself out of familial, social and religious traditions. Alameddine’s protagonist can be seen as a prototype of an intellectual who is rebellious and different, lives by literature. This research adopts a qualitative methodology, employing a critical analysis to delve into the experience of Aaliya. Relying on Edward Said’s thoughts and perspectives, she is depicted as a powerful woman who wants to build an individual, detached self, and appears more as an affiliated woman who takes her familial and religious traditions as a point of departure and breaks loose from her traditions to create a beginning and to be an important woman for herself. By situating Aaliya within historical, cultural, political, and religious contexts of postcolonial Lebanon, the novel highlights the presence of woman as intellectual, challenging the stereotypical representation of only men as intellectuals. This study concludes that Unnecessary Woman (re)presents a female intellectual and her resistance and challenge of dominant powers. Keywords: intellectual; self-constructed; literature; resistance; dominant powers