Sexuality in Emerging Translated Modern Arabic Literature: Between Mimicking and Dismantling the Eurocentric Narrative in The Corpse Washer

Abstract

This article addresses the question of how The Corpse Washer (2013) by Sinan Antoon employs the translation of sexually explicit language to present a “resistant and hybrid cultural identity.” Adopting a postcolonial framework, the article explores the kinds of literary, linguistic, and translation-related interventions Antoon exerts to provide a hybrid-discourse to the hegemonic Anglo-American discourse of Arab sexuality, particularly through the creative and conscious self-translation of his novel.