The Real, the Mythic and the Psychic in Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward 2000-1887 and Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s People of the Cave

Abstract

This research demonstrates the relationship between the real, the mythic and the psychic elements in Edward Bellamy’s celebrated novel Looking Backward 2000-1887 and Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s well-known play The People of the Cave. First, the research introduces various definitions of the term myth and how it constitutes a fertile soil for writers of all genres of literature. By resuscitating old myths, writers do not mean to imitate those myths but they seek interpretations and solutions to their contemporary issues. Moreover, the research examines the concepts of psychoanalysis, archetypes, collective unconscious as manifested in the writings of Thomas Bulfinch, Joseph Campbell, Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung for their direct relationship to mythology. While mythology is perceived as a means by which one can have a closer look at religion, culture, history and science, dreams embody the source book that provides one with the knowledge needed to understand the human psyche, its conscious and unconscious states. Then, the research traces the presence of the self, the shadow and the persona archetypes in Bellamy and Al-hakim’s works mentioned above.