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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The visionary art of Ibrahim al-Kawni
Author:Machut-Mendecka, EwaISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:Research in African Literatures
Volume:28
Issue:3
Pages:141-149
Language:English
Geographic term:Libya
Subject:literature
About person:Ibrahim al-Kawni (1948-)ISNI
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3820999
Abstract:The Libyan writer Ibrahim al-Kawni (1948) was born in the Fazzan Desert in southern Libya. He is a Tuareg by birth, but leads a sedentary life. He studied in Moscow, and lived in Poland in the 1980s. His work comprises collections of short stories and novels, and has been translated and published in various European countries. Al-Kawni has been a realist from the very start and in his early short stories he was alsways faithful to the logic of everyday life in Libya in its various facets. Later on, a magical approach and mythological themes became prevalent in his works. Al-Kawni's writings seem to be an illustration of Jung's concept of symbolical-visionary art, which is shaped in the unconscious and stems from the influence of the archetypal, that is, primary, primeval patterns of behaviour. The visionary character of al-Kawni's prose can be seen in its form. Against a background of magic and mythology develop contents and symbols rich in meaning, which - though not always clear - guide the life of the Tuaregs. However, his visionary experience is not confined to the use of symbols, it is shaped deep in the unconscious and marked by a nature that is demonic and grotesque. Bibliogr.
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