Coming-of-Age of Teenage Female Arab Gothic Fiction: A Feminist Semiotic Study
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors’ paper ‘Coming-of-age of teenage female Arab Gothic fiction: A feminist semiotic study’ is truly enjoyable to read for not only its style of writing but it is strong link between Arabic literature and feminist semiotic that can fill the gap in literature in the region. This is a very strong article, very well written coupled by sound methodology and strong analysis and discussion.
In fact, the idea/concept of jinn is rooted deep in Islamic/Arabic culture. Jinn has appeared in the notoriously famous 1001 nights (Persian origin but also translated into Arabic) and their scary representation of many forms and function of jinn was an integral part Pre-Islamic storytelling ( Please, refer for the references below) which I think might be appreciated by Arabic readers.
However, In Islam, Jinn have portrayed slightly different. For example in Quran, Al-Jinn (Arabic: الجن, “The Jinn”) is the 72nd chapter (sūrah) of the Quran with 28 verses (āyāt). The name as well as the topic of this chapter is jinn. Similar to angels, the jinn are beings invisible to the naked human eye. In the Quran, it is stated in that humans are created from the earth and jinn from smokeless fire. However, the Quran reduced the status of jinn from that of tutelary deities to that of minor spirits, usually paralleling humans.[ { وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ } [الذاريات: 56Hence, Allah has created Humans and Jinn for the purpose of worship.
And yet, in Islamic/Arabic folklore, jinn and possessions of humans has been the main interpretation used in such narrative, driving human crazy, love-sick (preventing them from getting married), and evil (please, refer to the article below- Possession and Jinn).
A few suggestion for the authors:
1) Jinn can be either male or female, it would be best if the authors can indicated they using a female jinn here and not possible a female version of the jinn.
2) Although 1001 Arabian nights are mentioned, yet the link of Jinn has not been introduced nor linked with Arabic story-telling
3) Line 76: as he has done to 1,001 other virgins (Mazolph 2007). This is a wrong fact. It is called 1001 nights based on the number of nights not the number of virgins being killed by the order of the King. So every night counts for every story Shahrazad narrates her compelling story preventing the King from murdering her in order to simply hear more.
4) Line 81: a belief in jinns as. Correction Jinn is also plural.
5) please, be consistent with reference style throughout the paper when needed.
6) Please, be consistent with the font throughout the paper.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014107680509800805
Fee, C.R.; Webb, Jeffrey B. (29 August 2016). American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An encyclopedia of American folklore. ABC-CLIO. p. 527. ISBN 978-1-610-69568-8.
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/27/article/486604/summary
Ibn Kathir (d.1373). "Tafsir Ibn Kathir (English): Surah Al Jinn". Quran 4 U. Retrieved 10 April 2020
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014107680509800805
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your detailed and constructive suggestions. I have revised the article and made the suggested revisions. This includes:
(1) noting that the jinn can be male or female.
(2) Providing a more detailed discussion of the origins of 1001 Nights.
(3) Discussing the portrayal of jinn in Islam.
We appreciate your time and careful analysis of this article.
Yours faithfully,
Zoe Hurley
Reviewer 2 Report
I inserted many comments and edits into the manuscript. Please see the attached file.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your detailed and constructive suggestions. I have revised the article and made the suggested revisions. This includes:
(1) correcting the typos, issues with punctuation and grammar in both English and Arabic.
(2) Strengthening the postfeminist analysis of the article and making it clearer that the YouTuber's text is not a feminist narrative.
(3) Attending to the miscellaneous errors and suggestions made by the reviewer.
We appreciate your time and careful analysis of this article and believe that it has been improved as a result.
Yours faithfully,
Zoe Hurley
