An Islamic Interpretation of Tragic Hero in Shakespearean Tragedies

Author: Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf
Publisher: IIUM Press
ISBN: 9832957257
Weight: 0.2kg
Pages: 75pp
Year: 2004
Price: RM18

Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Language and Literature, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). She was born in Bentong, Pahang in 1963. She specialized in English Literature (English Renaissance and Women's Writing in particular) and received her B.A. (Hons) from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, M.A. from the University of Liverpool, UK, and Ph.D. from the Flinders University of South Australia. She has numerous articles relating to literature, art, and performances published in books, journals and newspapers, both locally and internationally.

The study offers an alternative approach to reading Shakespearean tragedies. It also aims to prove that English Studies or English Literature (Shakespearean Studies in particular) can be Islamized. In this particular study, the widely accepted concept of 'tragic hero' is revised according to an Islamic framework and a reading of the three states of selves (or nafs) first mentioned in the Qur'an.

The Islamic concept of 'tragic hero' is studied in comparison with concepts already accepted in the West, bringing in arguments from the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic traditions. This is yet another attempt of the study in finding a meeting point of the three ‘Abrahamic religions' and in making Islam as a universal religion, which fits in any study, at any time, anywhere.

A recipient of the prestigious Utusan Melayu-Public Bank Literary Writing Award (1995 and 1997), Nor Faridah writes poems and short stories during her spare time. Some of her English poems and short stories are published by Longman, Silverfishbooks, and soon by Penguin Books India. This book is also in the process of being translated into Arabic for the Middle East market (a project taken by a Yemeni translator, Dr. Abdul Wahab Al-Maqalih).