| Abstrakt: |
Literary critics have subjected Nuruddin Farah's literary oeuvre to diverse readings focusing on, for example, post-colonialism, feminism and psychological factors. His creation of real settings within a corrupt dictatorial regime aimed at denunciation of poor governance in Somalia has hooked him to the realism typical of the post-colonial novel in Africa. Nonetheless, a keen study of some of Farah's novels exhibits nonrealism, fantasy, magic, prophecies, unconventional religion and sexuality, all of which are elements of speculative fiction. Aside from the unconventional exploration of sex through queer acts consigned to the private space in most African societies, Farah inverts traditional gender roles. This article is a departure from the conventional reading of Farah's work as a realistic representation of Somalia. The article looks at uncanny characters, magic, apocalyptic visions, queerness and other fantastic elements of speculative fiction in Farah (1998) as satirical embellishments that express warnings of the collapse of the Somali State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
