Modernism and Postcolonialism in Third World Literature: A Study of Arab Literary Practices

Abstract

Postcolonial literature is a critical address of colonial pasts, a voice of the ex-colonized nations, a voice of suppressed visions. This study addresses the evolution of colonial literature and the meaning of postcolonial literature as these spaces are intersected to create resistance, cultural negotiation, and social fault narratives. The study relies on key postcolonial theories, including Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha. It examines how writers have exploited these to make a case against colonial ideologies, hegemonic authority and cultural domination. Specific focus on Modern Arab literature, within the scope of Saudi literary work, is placed on the work of the Iraqi poet Abdul-Wahhab Al-Bayati. Al-Bayati uses Western modernist literary tradition to rephrase local stories about oppression, resistance, and cultural re-creation. He has turned Western literary methods into a poetics of protest, negotiation and liberation through textual appropriation and transcultural engagement to address the inner social restrictions and outer hegemonic forces. Through theoretical approaches to postcolonial literature, and a comparative analysis of the texts and the study of regional literature, the research shows how Arab and Saudi postcolonial authors build hybrid literary texts that highlight the voices of the marginalized and define cultural identity. The study highlights the continued significance of decolonization in studying postcolonial literature and its role in making the literary canon more inclusive, diverse, and representative of the world.