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I do not know who the authors of their dystopian tragedies are, but all that I know is that they lived all their lives cast in the shadows of suffering; however, isn´t there enough human dignity to defy institutionalized absurdity in a patriarchal society? Aren´t women worse than their executioners when they plead "helpless" in the court of their human dignity? Women in the Shadows of Oblivion spots a light on the torment of a cohort of women and offers an interpretation of why these women have cultivated a sense of disaffiliation from home and its associations and whether peace or violence is the corollary of women´s existence. It is a journey into this underground world, a voyage that indulges the reader into the world of power needed to seal the world of misery with an enigmatic smile. Are Radiyyeh, Samia, Sahar, Isra and Noha, the five women whose stories are chronicled in the collection, going to interrupt the road for oblivion and emerge as self-promoting, self-aggrandizing narcissists? Are they going to escape their constant physical and psychic entrapment? Or, is their energy going to be devoted for the pleasure of others while their progress is clouded by oblivion?

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Iman M. Hammad, M.A in English drama, University of Jordan. Born in Irbid, Jordan. Works as a full-time lecturer at An-Najah National University. Interested in Literature, feminist studies and mass media. Prepared and presented TV programs on women and family affairs. Working on preparing her first collection of Arabic poetry for publication.

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