Neurotic Anxiety in the Novel Tafsil Tsanawi: A Psychoanalytic Perspective Based on Sigmund Freud

Abstract

The conflict experienced by the Palestinian people since the Nakba has left a psychological impact reflected in literature. This study examines how Adania Shibli represents the neurotic anxiety of a Palestinian female protagonist in the novel Tafsil Tsanawi (Minor Detail), reflecting the condition of a society living under post-Nakba occupation. Primary data consists of narrative excerpts depicting the protagonist's experience of the persistent threat of occupation, while secondary data is drawn from works on Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis and the psychology of literature specifically regarding neurotic anxiety. Employing a qualitative approach grounded in psychoanalytic literary criticism and close reading techniques, the study classifies excerpts based on three criteria derived from Freud’s concept of neurotic anxiety (1926): the persistence of the threat, ego longing, and the id-reality conflict. The findings reveal that Shibli represents neurotic anxiety not as an isolated psychological condition, but as the result of an interplay between external reality pressures and the protagonist's internal conflicts. This is consistently portrayed through recurring somatic symptoms and self-driven impulses, depicting anxiety as a dynamic psychological process that never reaches true resolution. The novel illustrates a scenario in which, contrary to its typical role of assisting the ego in repressing id impulses, the superego instead supports the protagonist's id impulses, thereby placing the ego under immense pressure. This finding contributes to expanding the application of Freud's theory of neurotic anxiety within literary studies by highlighting this alignment between the protagonist's id and superego.