on shifting narratives in Syrian literature, guest edited by novelist Rosa Yassin Hassan.
Perhaps many people are ashamed to say that a narrative is independent of reality. Or, a more accurate statement might be that a narrative is relatively independent, as it cannot ignore what has happened or is happening in its time and space.
But independence appears in changes the slow changes affecting literature, as opposed to the occasional rapid developments in reality. Sometimes, the opposite is true when art and narratives undergo revolutions while reality stagnates. Ironically, major literary or artistic revolutions target the form at first or the methods of expression, rather than the content or themes. However, themes indicate a change in the intellectual, political and ethical stances of the writers and leave a real impact on literary expression.