characterization in the star of august by sonallah ibrahim

after the movements that egypt witnessed in the second half of twentieth century, realist novelists tried to depict the realities of the society with new perspectives and used a new structural pattern in their writings. with this regard the role of character which has a determining factor in realist novels went through changes concerning  characterization and depicting their temperament  in novels with the neorealist approach. sonallah  ibrahim is one of the most prominent authors of the 60’s with neorealist approach evident in his works. the novel the star of august (1974) is an example of his efforts to diverge from the common styles of characterization of that time. in this novel there is no trace of hero in the traditional sense and style and the main character of the novel is an ordinary person who has no fame. the minor characters of the story also are all static till the end of the story and they are introduced only by name or job.