The mythical fantasy in the contemporary omani women’s novel: A study of three omani works

Until a very recent time, oral myths and legends have been prominently present in the history of Oman. They became a prominent theme within the Omani literary community, long inspiring its writers and poets to weave a complex tapestry of evocative tales. Such key literary voices include the Omani female novelists, who primarily asserted their ancestral linkage to grandmothers and mothers, showcasing their supremacy and dominance over their male counterparts in exploring mythical fantasy. Notably, the fiction they crafted was enriched with a range of insights, visions, and ideologies borrowed from diverse cultures and civilizations to ensure their passage across generations. The stories they told were often based on dialogue of multiple styles, languages, and voices. Thanks to their amazing talent, they were able to weave such elements into an artistic, literary fabric. This has encouraged the selection of three Omani women’s mythical novels, namely: They Are Not Mentioned in Majaz (2022) by Huda Hamed, Hawra Nizwa (2022) by Fawzia Al-Fahdi, and The Death Party (2009) by Fatma Al-Shidi. This approach will focus on dialogism in the literary and non-literary works of Bakhtin (1895–1975), extracting the mythical texts incorporated by the Omani novelist in her work, as well as, exposing the link between polyphonic narrative, diversity of dialogue, and the conflicting multi-perspective ideologies in the Omani women’s novel. The problem of the study is to seek proper answers to the questions regarding the relationship between reality and myth; the internal and external relationships of dialogue; the types of the narrative voices; the relationship between dialogue and polyphonic narratives through the chronicle; and the depth of the diverse dialogic interaction and the dynamics behind this.