Sufi narrative experimentation according to Al-Tahir Wattar

Abstract

َThis study attempts to explore some of the intellectual and philosophical elements that constitute the bedrock of Tahar Ouattar’s narrative consciousness, with due focus on his Sufist consciousness.  It must be stressed that Sufism has become for many contemporary poets and novelists a modernist preoccupation; and the Algerian novelist’s experience with Sufism is very likely to provide food for thought. In some of his novels Tahar Ouattar displays his knowledge of Sufism, and finds in its symbolism the most appropriate tool to reveal the subtleties of the Sufist language. Of these novels mention should be made of The Fisher and the Castle;  The Saint Returns to his Sanctuar;  The Saint Implores God.  It is the use of the Sufist narrative structure in these novels which, in our opinion, would make of them Sufist more than realist writings -as the author has often claimed them to be.