A Post-Colonial Critique of the Novels Mysteries of My Land by Reza Barahani and Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz

Colonial literature refers to a branch of contemporary literature that emerged during colonial domination or afterwards with the purpose of liberation from the yoke of colonialism in the colonized countries. Of the main themes of this literature, one can mention the confrontation between characters and the themes that set the oriental writer’s ‘self’ as confronting the western ‘other’ and the interaction between them. In the literary fiction in Iran and Egypt, many writers have written on this subject. The present investigation is a comparative study of the two novels, namely the Mysteries of My Land by Reza Barahani, and Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz. Both works date back to the occupation of the writers’ lands by western countries. The findings of the study, obtained through content analysis, adopting a comparative approach, suggest that, by expressing and evaluating such fundamental and post-colonial concepts as ‘other’, the core and the periphery, gender, beliefs, freedom-seeking, and the fight against colonialism, the writers have sought to show their “selves” and “other” or the core and the periphery.