Utopian/Dystopian Lebanon: constructing place in Jabbūr al-Duwayhī’s Sharīd al-manāzil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sharīd al-manāzil paints a portrait of Beirut at the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War. Born Muslim but raised by a Christian couple in the village of Ḥawra, Niẓām al-ʿAlamī embraces his mixed religious identity and seamlessly navigates Muslim and Christian religious rituals. He moves from Ḥawra to Beirut in search of adventure. When the war erupts, Niẓām is shunned by both Muslims and Christians. The seemingly utopian city is transformed into a dystopian place that demands strict sectarian affiliation and loyalty. Informed by studies of utopia and place, this essay offers a contextual analysis of the novel, focusing on three pivotal places in Niẓām’s life (and death), namely, the orchard of Niẓām’s adopted parents in Ḥawra, Niẓām’s rented apartment in Beirut, and his lover Janān’s workshop. I argue that by depicting the fluid construction of place and identity, al-Duwayhī’s novel elucidates the perils—and reversibility—of sectarianism.