Yemeni literature and history in Ǧawlat Kintākī by ‘Abd Allāh ‘Abbās al-Iryānī: new dreams and old disillusions
in La rivista di Arablit, a. VII, n. 14, dicembre 2017, pp. 45-62.
The Yemeni people live in a perpetual state of conflicts and tension, it is therefore not surprising that a long list of Arab writers have been produc- ing works pertaining to the genre of history fiction for generations. Here both past and, especially, recent history become the object of narration. In other words writers become the historians and spokespersons of a counter-narrative to official history. As far as Yemen is concerned, this is a tendency of contemporary writers, known as ǧīl al-šabāb that seems to invite readers to wake up from the lethargy in which the official narration of historical events relegate them. Within such a context, it is possible to insert the novel Ǧawlat Kintākī by ‘Abd Allāh ‘Abbās al-Iryānī, in which the author tells the story of a group of young Yemenis who decide to take to the square in the name of revolution at the beginning of 2011.
