Heavier Than Radwa: ' Radwa', a Human Being , a Mountain , a Nation

Abstract

This paper will attempt to survey how the book entitled "Athqal Min Radwa"-Heavier than Radwa by the writer Radwa Ashour is a work that, as its title indicates, is a life story of an individual and also a historic story of a revolution of a nation to which the writer belongs. How the two stories of suffering and fighting are intertwined will be the target of this paper. The name 'Radwa' is a pun which refers to the author's first name as well as the name of a mountain in the Arabian Peninsula. The novel is a braided narrative of Radwa's experience as a cancer patient. It is a survey of a battle against difficult odds in the protagonist's life. It is also a historic book of resistance and fighting of a people against an oppressive political system.The research paper will survey how the book is a historic testimony as well as a literary document of the highest caliber. The special style characteristics will be surveyed to show how the content is delivered through the rich form. Stylistically the work abounds with rich narrative techniques, description, figures of speech, dialogues, monologues, and a variety of poetic lyrical quotations.

Keywords: Autobiography, pain and suffering, battles against cancer, Arab Spring uprising, revolution