Novelising the Arab revolutions: The Knights of Assassinated Dreams

In this paper, I examine the quest for freedom in Ibrahim Al-Koni's novel The Knights of Assassinated Dreams. I argue that the novel introduces freedom as the main catalyst of the Arab revolutions that have swept the Middle East and North Africa since Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in December 2010. Through the study of the actions of the main characters in this novel, I illustrate how freedom is achieved in the midst of war and disorder during the Libyan Revolution-turned-civil-war. Moreover, I engage the question of the novelisation of the revolution and how The Knights of Assassinated Dreams is a fresh contribution to the ongoing debate about novelisation and aesthetisation of current events. aha ussein was probably the first Arab literary critic to have discussed the relationship between literature and the revolution as early as 1954. ussein was writing in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution and his opinion has come to shape the discussion of the literary depiction of the Arab revolutions. Even though most literary critics agree that the literature of urgency (al-adab al-isti'jali) is not 'real' literature, I read The Knights of Assassinated Dreams as a novel that portrays and reflects the transformative effect of the current revolutionary events on the style and writing of an established author of Arabic literature. Additionally, I demonstrate how the unfolding events are inscribed into the literary work, and elucidate several risks that the authors run in their endeavour to novelise ongoing events.