Prison Autobiographies in Libyan Literature: Siǧniyyāt (Prison Sketches) by ‘Umar Abū ’l-Qāsim al-Kiklī
in La rivista di Arablit, a. V, n. 9-10, dicembre 2015, pp. 9-22.
Under Qadhdhafi’s (al-Qaḏḏāfī) regime, literary works committed to freedom and human rights had to be published outside Libya. In fact littérateurs of opposition were subjected to repressive practices, which were not limited to the isolation or the banning of their literary production, but extended to torture and imprisonment or even political assassination. Only after the overthrow of Qadhdhafi, writers started to talk about their experiences in Qadhdhafi’s prisons in their published works at home. This paper will examine Siǧniyyāt (Prison Sketches, 2012) by ‘Umar Abū ’l-Qāsim al-Kiklī, a collection in which the very short story (al-qiṣṣah al-qaṣīrah ǧiddan) and the flash short story (qiṣṣat al-wamḍah) can be found, and which is considered one of the first testaments of political imprisonment published after Qadhdhafi.
