Encounter with the Grotesque: The Imbrication of Death and Trauma in Syrian Fiction

none

Abstract

The Middle East is and has been an ongoing stage for wars and conflicts that have shaped and reshaped the demography of the region with little or no regard for the innocent civilians who are a major casualty in these wars. The crisis in Syria created the biggest tragedy in the history of modern warfare with more than 350 000 civilians killed and almost half of them displaced (Loft, 2023). The present paper undertakes a closer examination of a selected fiction from Syria (Death is Hard Work) to reveal a life without hope and meaning for the survivors of recent wars. As the analysis will reveal, their tragedy belies simple, unequivocal explanation; besieged by violence and death in the spiraling cycle of wars, the Syrians have suffered psychological trauma and emotional breakdown of an upending scale. There is a need to bring to light their experience of war along with the manifold and serious consequences on the civilian population in Syria. There is no doubt that the civilians are the worst effected in the recent wars, however, the scale of their psychological injury is yet to be determined.

Key words: Civilians, Death, Trauma, Violence,  War