Bensalem Himmich and his historical novels

In this study, Moroccan Bensalem Himmich's who is an important writer and thinker of the last period, literal personality and historical novels were discussed. The main sources of the study are Himmich's historical novels, Majnūn al-Hukm, al-ʿAllāma, Zahrat al-Jahiliyyah and Hadha al-Andalusī! and his autobiography titled Al Zāt: Bayn Al Wujood Wal Eijad (The Self: Between Existence and Creation). The study includes an introduction part and three main chapters, and firstly, the information about Bensalem Himmich's life, works and literary personality was given. Then, the historical novels of Himmich were examined in terms of content. The content of historical novels; characters, departments, plots, time and space are discussed. Finally, the narrative and stylistic features of Himmich's historical novels; the narrator and his point of view, language and style features, verses, hadiths, and quotations from poems were examined in the chapters. As a result, it can be said that although the subjects and characters are different in Bensalem Himmich's historical novels, the subject of political despotism is predominantly discussed in the background, quotations are made from historical sources at the beginning of the chapter in the novels, and these quotations differ in size and function. The author's novels are based on historical data as well as historical sources are insufficient. In addition to this, it has been observed that he uses fiction in situations and has dramatic and moving life stories of historical figures in his novels. Lastly, it is observed that his historical novels' literary language is very close to the language of the period that he described, that the novels differ in terms of narrator and point of view, and quotations are made from verses, hadiths and poems.