Title: Living in Hell, Longing for Heaven: The Creation of Links by Somali Novelist Nuruddin Farah

Abstract: Nuruddin Farah is a representative writer of contemporary Somali literature. In Links, Farah shows the broken and devastated Somali society through the eyes of the protagonist Jeebleh. He exposes and criticizes one of the main causes of social problems, which is the clanism. Furthermore, he expresses his strong longing for peace in the novel and tries to break and then reconstruct the “links” by building the new social relations. This novel reflects Farah’s deep concern and ideal exploration for the future of his country as an intellectual.

Keywords: Nuruddin Farah, Links, Somali literature, African English literature

Authors: Zhenwu Zhu, Professor, School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China; Yuxuan Liu, School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.