Representations of Tragic Sensibility in The Corpse Washer: A Case Study

Abstract

This study examines the idea of the exclusion of death in Sinan Antoon’s fiction as one of the most prominent recurring themes in his works. It explores how Antoon transforms death from a transient event into a persistent presence that surrounds the characters and shapes their psychological and social trajectories. The analysis demonstrates that the author does not portray death merely as a physical end; rather, he presents it as a force that governs memory, exposes human vulnerability, and reshapes the individual’s relationship with the self and with others.

The study also discusses the artistic techniques Antoon employs to exclude or defer death, whether through the evocation of the rituals of everyday life, the articulation of the voices of the oppressed, or the use of interior narration that confronts death through words, memory, and documentation. The study argues that such exclusion does not constitute a denial of death, but rather an attempt to understand it and reconfigure its presence within a reality permeated by violence and loss. Antoon’s engagement with death through his tragic sensibility thus offers a profound humanistic vision that brings together pain and resistance, transforming the literary work into a space for preserving what remains of life in the face of continuing loss.