XXX Международный конгресс ИИСАА. 19–21 июня 2019 г. Т. 1

Литература стран Азии и Африки к 150-летию академика В. В. Бартольда (1869–1930). Ч. 1 365 the editor-in-chief, simply participated in false propaganda, for which the editor received huge sums of money from the regime. Wajdi al-Ahdal’s “Happy land of intrigues” is a narrative of semi-detective type, very characteristic of the writer, with sequential composition and well expressed intrigue. The protagonist, Mutahhar Fadl, is an experienced journalist working in a governmental newspaper in Sana’a. He is the narrator in the novel. The editor- in-chief sends him on a business trip to al-Hudayda province to cover a scandalous incident. A local sheikh, an important member of the ruling party, was detained by police on suspicion of raping an eight-year-old girl. On the instructions of the editor- in-chief Mutahhar falsifies the story, told by the victim, and from that moment all his activities turn into an information war against opposition journalists and human rights activists. The regime not only pays him large amounts of money for his services, but also provides him with young “concubines”. The climax of this war is Mutahhar’s participation in the hostile takeover of an opposition newspaper, but soon after that the regime gives him away as a sacrifice in this war. Finally, Mutahhar dies in a traffic accident of a mystical nature. Aleksandra Szklarzewicz (Jagiellonian University, Kraków) The Mersault Investigation by Kamel Daoud as a response to orientalism in Albert Camus’ The Stranger In 2013 Kamel Daoud, anAlgerian writer and journalist, published his acclaimed debut novel The Mersault Investigation. The novel has been awarded various literary prizes, most notably le Prix Goncourt du Premier Roma n in 2015 (Goncourt Prize for a First Novel). In his first book, Daoud plays with the plot of a well-known literary classic The Stranger by Albert Camus. The Mersault Investigation is not merely an artistic paraphrase of Camus’ work, the novel is an astute and just presentation of Algeria’s recent history and its present social situation. Although, Camus was born and raised in Algeria and had brought a sinigificant contribution to the history and culture of this country, it is fair to say that in his novel he has given little to no attention toArabs, the local inhabitants of his novel’s setting. Furthermore, the only Arab character mentioned in the book is a nameless man whose assasination is the focal point of Camus’ literary work. In The Mersault Investigation Daoud presents the same events from a differents angle, thus from the perspective of the victim’s brother. By doing so, the Algerian writer challenges the colonnial stereotype of an indifferent and thoughtless Arab. Daoud exposes the many ways in which Camus, perhaps unintentionally, has deprived Arabs of their identity by placing them in the position of those who cannot represent themselves. Therefore, he reminds us of various important issues tackled by Edward W. Said in