Realism in Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Works: A Case Study of Odat al Ruoh or the Return of the Spirit’

Tawfiq al-Hakim is one of pioneers in Arabic literature and has produced a large volume of stories, dramas and articles. Odat al Ruoh or the Return of the Spirit is a story with critical realistic elements and portrays socio-political conditions and developments between the two world wars, especially the Egyptian revolution of 1919 led by Sa’ad Zaghloul. This story contains socialist realism elements, such as hope and optimism concerning reforms for a corrupted society. In this story, he has attempted to show a small part of the Egyptian society and its debilitating and terrible conditions. It tries to reflect the pain and difficulties Egyptian people had undergone to form unity to resist oppression and tyranny. This research aims to reflect on realism elements Tawfiq al-Hakim employed and more specifically how they were used in this story. In other words, this study tries to answer the questions as what realism the story has and how the personal life of the author affected it. The important findings suggest that this story is among the first ones, which are based on the school of realism because the author has been bold enough to criticize the reality and revealed the corrupted conditions of the Egyptian society when it was once occupied by Britain. It is considered important and reliable evidence for political and social history of Egypt.