Abstract :
This article presents some observations on modern Arabic prose through the concept of
the hero, an essential element in the structure of any fictional work, helping to determine
its style, plot, composition and other features. A number of novels and short stories
published over the last few years by Arab writers from Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Palestine
are examined in this light. The article argues that the Arabic literature of the end of the
20th and beginning of the 21st century reveals a less optimistic outlook than works
dating from the first half of the 20th century, and that many individuals treated in
contemporary works have lost their self-reliance and confidence in the value of existence
in a world now full of ‘imponderables’. In this respect, these works echo current tendencies
in world literature as a whole.
