The Everyday in the Stories of Abdelkader El-Arabi Majbri : A Reading of the Collection And the Mud Palaces Fell Silent About the Permissible Speech

Abstract

This study examines the representation of everyday life in And the Mud Palaces Fell Silent About the Permissible Speech by Abdelkader El-Arabi Majbri , by tracing the details of daily existence in the regions of Touat and Adrar, together with their rural, urban, and roadside margins. It explores village and ksar life, popular rituals and tea gatherings, the repercussions of the nuclear tests in Reggane, precarious employment, family relationships, university life, and movement between the periphery and the center. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach, drawing on selected concepts from the sociology of literature. It analyzes the everyday through several thematic axes: daily life in the rural and Touat environment, the everyday associated with wounded memory and precarious labour, family and domestic life, and the everyday as reflected in work, travel, and urban/roadside spaces. The study concludes that everyday details constitute the core of Majbri's short-story writing, revealing the profound social and historical marginalization of southern Algeria, as well as the tensions surrounding family, labour, memory, and ritual practices. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the everyday is transformed into literary scenes charged with dense social and human significance.