Dr. Ebrahim Mohammed Alwuraafi
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of science and Art-Al-Mandaq, Al-Baha University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Email. ebrahimwarafi@gmail.com, e.mohammed@bu.edu.sa ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5537-7548
Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.47
Modernity and Alienation in Fahd Al-Atiq’s Life on Hold
Abstract
The second half of the twentieth century Saudi Arabia witnessed an extraordinary economic boom that resulted from the oil production. The new wealth changed people’s life and instead of the old and impoverished life, there started a new one of unimaginable riches and wealth. This sudden metamorphosis has had negative psychological impacts such as alienation and estrangement on Saudis who, unexpectedly, found themselves in an entirely new world. Fahd Al-Atiq’s novel Life on Hold depicts this economic transformation and its impact on the life of Saudi people. The aim of this paper is to analyze Al-Atiq’s usage of alienation as a consequence of modernity and consumerism in Saudi Arabia. The paper examines Al-Atiq’s disappointment with modernity as a culture of alienation in its celebration of appearance and superficiality which necessitates the need to look beyond the surface.
Keywords: modernity, alienation, Saudi Arabia, Saudi novel