Disease and Disability: Missing in Arabic Narratives

Illness narratives are uncommon in Arabic fiction. Literary Disability Studies considers how disability operates in a text. This paper examines the lack of illness narratives in Arabic fiction and traces the sociological reasons behind this absence. A close-reading of an Arabic novel examining Multiple Sclerosis is presented. The novel (Āyām Jamīlah, (Beautiful Days) by Palestinian-Jordanian author Reema Humood) presents Multiple Sclerosis as a complex narrative of both illness and societal discrimination. An interview with the author is used for supplementary analyses.