The influence of folk culture on novels

 

Boucheaib al-Saouri. Morocco

Literature and oral tradition are inseparable all over the globe. Folk traditions and their development are reflected in many literary forms, frequently providing the groundwork for creative vision, particularly in postcolonial novels.

My goal in conducting this research is to analyse two postcolonial novels – "Kasban Hata" (2006) by the late Egyptian author Fuad Qandil and "Tharyat Al-Bilad" (2004) by the Moroccan writer Al-Habib al-Da'im Rabi – and the ways in which oral culture influences the fictional worlds of these authors.

This study delves into the ways in which these two writers weave stories, proverbs, metaphors, dialogues, jokes, myths, attitudes, values, and aspects of oral culture into their works of fiction. Language and its cultural implications in relation to postcolonial literature are also the subject of this analysis.

This study shows that both writers make use of aspects of oral culture such as tales, proverbs, metaphors, conversations, humour, myths, morals, and the supernatural in their narrative writings. Also highlighted are postcolonial novels' linguistic and cultural legacies.

The two works under consideration are distinctive in their creative vision and composition, despite the fact that they are both part of the postcolonial genre, which uses local rather than universal components and the marginal rather than the central. 

Moroccan writer Al-Habib al-Da'im Rabi aimed to draw inspiration from the local folk culture of the Doukkala region in Morocco, with its oral component playing a fundamental role in shaping his novel "Tharyat Al-Bilad". In contrast, Egyptian novelist Fuad Qandil utilised Egyptian folk culture in "Kasban Hata" to establish a dialogue between the novel and folk biography.

The potential of Moroccan colloquial language is also highlighted in the study.