Individuation in The Seventh Day of Creation: A Jungian Analysis

Abstract

Jung's individuation process is associated with the shadow, anima, self, sage, and persona archetypes, during which the protagonist achieves self-discovery and self- awareness. Abdel Khaliq Al-Rikabi’s The Seventh Day of Creation is one of the most popular Arabic novels in the twentieth century which has postmodern techniques including polyphony and time travel to present two main distinct narratives. If these intertwined narratives are considered separately, one can detect therein the archetypes informing Jung's idea of individuation. Most notably, the function of these archetypes in advancing the author's goal, which is a kind of self-discovery and creation of the novel, could be recognized in the novel’s first narrative, namely, Kitab Al-Kotob (Sirah Al-Zatiyeh). The psychological analysis of this narrative shows that the author encounters unconscious archetypal elements such as shadow, anima, and sage; toward the end of the process of individuation, he becomes aware of how the form and content of the narrative are created. The first story is Sirah Al-Zatiyeh which presents the process of self-discovery of the author himself, undergoes the process of individuation in order to collect the manuscripts of Rawouq. In a three-step process, the novel’s protagonist sets out on a symbolic journey to know himself and achieve self-discovery, after encountering the archetypes of the shadow (Badr and the poet), the anima (Warqa), and the sage (Shabib)..