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Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour
Exile is an integral part of the history of all three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This thesis compares between literary narratives of the exile of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It explores the notion that having been exiled from Eden with the fall of Adam and Eve, and havi...
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2025
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| _version_ | 1867613425133158400 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Hosny, Malak K |
| author_browse | Hosny, Malak K |
| author_facet | Hosny, Malak K |
| author_sort | Hosny, Malak K |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Exile is an integral part of the history of all three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This thesis compares between literary narratives of the exile of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It explores the notion that having been exiled from Eden with the fall of Adam and Eve, and having each religion’s prophet’s story intrinsically tied with exile, the believers’ exile is then the third in a layered cycle of exile. Having lost the paradise, believers tend to search for earthly paradises that they attach themselves to, and then tragically lose those as well. The thesis’ three primary literary texts are: 1) Out of Egypt, a memoir by André Aciman which narrates the exile of Jews from Alexandria in the 20th century, 2) The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a novel by Franz Werfel which captures the exile of Armenian Christians from Turkey during World War I, and 3) Granada: The Complete Trilogy, a trilogy by Radwa Ashour that tells the story of the exile of Arab Muslims from Al-Andalus during the 15th century. The thesis, methodologically using postcolonial theory and discourse analysis, investigates how the earthly paradise is created and lost, looks comparatively at how the different faiths affect the ways by which the characters resist exile, analyzes how linguistic tools, such as diglossia and codeswitching, are used as tools of resistance, and traces Odyssean echoes throughout the exilic narratives. This thesis addresses a research gap in interfaith research when it comes to the theme of exile. Its utilization of literary medium is also rare in this research field. Its significance lies in how this literary juxtaposition allows for a contrapuntal reading that sheds light on similarities and differences, of all the aforementioned elements, between the narratives of exiled Jews, Christians, and Muslims. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3554 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:56.457Z |
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| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3554 Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour Hosny, Malak K Exile is an integral part of the history of all three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This thesis compares between literary narratives of the exile of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It explores the notion that having been exiled from Eden with the fall of Adam and Eve, and having each religion’s prophet’s story intrinsically tied with exile, the believers’ exile is then the third in a layered cycle of exile. Having lost the paradise, believers tend to search for earthly paradises that they attach themselves to, and then tragically lose those as well. The thesis’ three primary literary texts are: 1) Out of Egypt, a memoir by André Aciman which narrates the exile of Jews from Alexandria in the 20th century, 2) The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a novel by Franz Werfel which captures the exile of Armenian Christians from Turkey during World War I, and 3) Granada: The Complete Trilogy, a trilogy by Radwa Ashour that tells the story of the exile of Arab Muslims from Al-Andalus during the 15th century. The thesis, methodologically using postcolonial theory and discourse analysis, investigates how the earthly paradise is created and lost, looks comparatively at how the different faiths affect the ways by which the characters resist exile, analyzes how linguistic tools, such as diglossia and codeswitching, are used as tools of resistance, and traces Odyssean echoes throughout the exilic narratives. This thesis addresses a research gap in interfaith research when it comes to the theme of exile. Its utilization of literary medium is also rare in this research field. Its significance lies in how this literary juxtaposition allows for a contrapuntal reading that sheds light on similarities and differences, of all the aforementioned elements, between the narratives of exiled Jews, Christians, and Muslims. 2025-06-18T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2507 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3554/viewcontent/Malak_Khaled_Hosny_thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Exile The Abrahamic Religions Resistance Postcolonial Diglossia Comparative Literature. Applied Linguistics Arabic Language and Literature Christianity Comparative Literature Discourse and Text Linguistics German Language and Literature Islamic Studies Jewish Studies Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies |
| spellingShingle | Exile The Abrahamic Religions Resistance Postcolonial Diglossia Comparative Literature. Applied Linguistics Arabic Language and Literature Christianity Comparative Literature Discourse and Text Linguistics German Language and Literature Islamic Studies Jewish Studies Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Hosny, Malak K Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour |
| title | Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour |
| title_full | Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour |
| title_fullStr | Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour |
| title_short | Paradise Lost Thrice: Exile and the Abrahamic Religions in Aciman, Werfel, and Ashour |
| title_sort | paradise lost thrice exile and the abrahamic religions in aciman werfel and ashour |
| topic | Exile The Abrahamic Religions Resistance Postcolonial Diglossia Comparative Literature. Applied Linguistics Arabic Language and Literature Christianity Comparative Literature Discourse and Text Linguistics German Language and Literature Islamic Studies Jewish Studies Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2507 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3554/viewcontent/Malak_Khaled_Hosny_thesis.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hosnymalakk paradiselostthriceexileandtheabrahamicreligionsinacimanwerfelandashour |