From Page to Screen: Storytelling and the Transformation of Palestinian Narratives of Exile in Tewfik Saleh's The Dupes and Ghassan Kanafani's Men in the Sun

Abstract

This dissertation examines the narrative transformation and political implications of The Dupes (1972),directed by Tewfik Saleh, a cinematic adaptation of Ghassan Kanafani’s pivotal novella Men in the Sun (1963). The study examines the interplay between literature and cinema, investigating how adaptation transforms the original text's themes of exile, displacement, and resistance into a visual format. The dissertation does soby conducting a comparative analysis of narrative structure, character development, and formal techniques such as montage, symbolism, and mise-en-scène.It highlights how inner psychological states in the novella are externalized in the film. The dissertation situates both the novella and the film within the historical and political context of the Nakba and the broader Palestinian struggle, drawing on adaptation theory, narratology, and cultural memory studies. The dissertation also demonstrates that TheDupes serves as a manifestation of cinematic resistance, preserving collective memory and amplifying the Palestinian narrative within both Arab and global cinema. The analysis shows that film adaptation functions as an artistic reinterpretation and also as a medium of considerable political significance for the preservation of culture and the practice of ethical witnessing.