REVERSE CULTURE-SHOCK WITH AN ATTEMPT OF COMPROMISING CULTURES: A CRITIQUE OF A. RIHANI’S THE BOOK OF KHALID AND T. SALIH’S SEASON OF MIGRATION TO THE NORTH

Mugahed Alheshami (Aligarh Muslim University, Utterpradesh, Aligarh, India)
Mohammed Yassin Mohammed Aba Sha'ar (Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand)

LET: Linguistics, Literature and English Teaching Journal
Vol 9, No 2 (2019)

Upon repatriation, many socio-psychological problems accompany the returnees to their home culture after spending a long time in the host culture. It is assumed that the returnees find no difficulty in re-adapting the life in their culture; however, many studies expound that re-adjustment in the home culture, particularly after spending a long time in another culture, is not an easy process, the returnees experience a re-entry or reversal cultural-shock. The main contention of this paper is to expound how Rihani and Salih attempt with a new literary trend to unify the eastern and western cultures in their fictional worlds. The paper underpins the idea of bridging the gaps between cultures and initiating a new era of mutual understanding and co-existence between the nations. It explicates how both novels present a different picture of the oriental world that contradicts with the orientalist and neo-orientalist depictions by projecting the Arabia culture and people equitably.