“Voyage to Tomorrow”: Modern Arabic Science Fiction

Abstract

This paper is aimed to analyse time and space as the prominent themes of modern Arabic science fiction on the example of the novel “Voyage to Tomorrow” by Tawfiq al-Hakim. In this research a combination of two research methods - documentary analysis and literature review - was used. Documentary analysis involves obtaining data from about ten scientific articles and theses. Documentary analysis was used to obtain general data about the subject of the research. Results of the research make it obvious that time travel is one of the most contagious ideas in science fiction.  In modern society where time is a unit of value and instant gratification is prized, the idea of traveling through time appears more than ever in books, movies, and pop culture. Arabic science fiction writers try to incorporate the latest theories about the nature of the universe to give their stories greater realism. A pioneering figure of modern Arabic science fiction, Tawfiq al-Hakim, is the focus of attention in the paper because of his evolutionary and panoramic view of history and time in his novel “Voyage to Tomorrow”. Qualitative methods, documentary and literary analyses used in the research allowed the author to come to the conclusion that the ideas of the novel approach nature as transformational, rather than static and unchanging, and time as directional, rather than cyclic. The paper also shows how different traditions were combined in the “Voyage to Tomorrow” reflecting peculiarities of modern Arabic science fiction.