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For a very long time the Arab woman had been represented either through orientalist visions of the west or through the words of Arab men. Luckily, in the past forty years, arab women have begun to offer accurate self portrayals, proving that contrary to common belief there are Arabic women novelists. In fact the first Arab novel, Badi’awa Fuád, was written by Afifa Karam, a Lebanese woman, in 1906 and published by an American newspaper. Egypt has, to itself, unveiled a great number of women writers, the most famous of which is the controversial Nawal al Saadawi.
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Distant View Of A Minaret And Other Stories by Alifa Rifaat
Praised as one of Egypt’s most important writers for her authentic and raw style, Alifa Rifaat has a rare sense of beauty and sensuality. Her short stories reflect on the lives of Muslim women in rural Egypt. The fifteen short stories that make up this collection are busy with markets, shoppers, traffic, unhappy marriages and unsatisfied desire. In her depiction of every day events Alifa Rifaat stands out by challenging fundamentalist Islamic interpretation of the Qur’an yet remains true to her faith, without ever sounding like a westerner. |
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The Open Door by Latifa Al Zayyat
The Open Door is Zayyat’s first novel. Published in 1960 the novel tells the story of Layla, a young women for a middle class Cairean family, “coming of sexual and political age” during the 40s and 50s. Layla and her brother become involved in the student movement of the 40s before engaging in the resistance against imperialist rule. The novel culminates in the 1956 Suez Canal crisis. The Open Door is a ground-breaking work through its exploration of the empowerment of women and the direct relationship between feminism and nationalism.
‘’Latifa al-Zayyat greatly helped all of us Egyptian writers in our early writing careers.’’— Naguib Mahfouz
’Not only a great novel, but a literary landmark that shaped our consciousness.’’ — Abdel Moneim Tallima
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Map Of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
Map Of Love is a parallel story of two cross cultural love affairs. The first between Anna Winterbourne, an English noble woman, and Sharif al Baroudy, an Egyptian nationalist, set at the dawn of the 20th century when Egypt is an outpost of the British Empire. The second between Isabelle, Anna’s granddaughter, and half Palestinian, half Egyptian Omar, a gifted conductor with his own sense of politics. As she tries to understand her emotions and heritage, Isabelle travels to Egypt. Through these love stories Soueif explores the relationship between Egypt and the British Empire in the 20th century. |
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Blue Aubergine by Miral al Tahawy
Another novel of coming of age, Blue Aubergine, tells the story of a young Egyptian woman, Nada, born in 1967 and growing up in the aftermath of the Egyptian defeat of that year. Traumatized by her childhood, her growing hate for her mother, her idolization of an absent father, Nada, first takes on the Niqab, hiding herself and her face behind the veil. As her choice forces her more and more into isolation, Nada leaves her Niqab behind and embraces the other extreme, dressing in tight clothes, wearing her hair long as she searches for love and affection. As the novels jumps from present to past, and back again we are made to look at the child that Nada once was, singing, climbing trees, happy and her current self as she goes through the emotional disasters of her life. |
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Woman At Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi Born in rural Egypt in 1931 Nawal El Saadawi has always been controversial. She’s an outspoken Egyptian feminist, sociologist, doctor and militant writer on Arab women's issues. Over the years she has been jailed, put on a death list, forced into exile and several of books have been periodically banned in Egypt and many an Arab country. Woman At Point Zero tells the story of a prostitute who is awaiting death row for having murdered her pimp. A podcast of Nawal el Saadawi discussing her work can be found on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2009/05/090505_saadawi_wbc.shtml |
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The Golden Chariot by Salwa Bakr
Born in 1949 in Cairo, Salwa Bakr is one of Egypt’s most respected novelists. As other novelist form her generation she is greatly affected by the Egyptian defeat against the Israelis in 1967. After working exclusively as a journalist, Salaw Bakr began her writing career in the mid 70s. The Golden Chariot is the story of Aziza, a prisoner, who imagines a golden chariot that will take her up to heaven. As she wonders who to take with her she recalls the tales of her fellow prisoners. Bakr’s writing reveals the injustices of a society that is shifting. |
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A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar
In yet another coming of age novel, Randa Jarrar tells the story of an bold Muslim girl, Nidali. Born in the 70s in Boston to an Egyptian Greek mother and a Palestinian father, Nidali soon moves to Kuwait with her family where they lead a middle class life, before they are driven out by the Iraqi invasion. After a short passage in Egypt she and her family move back to the States, this time to Texas. All the while Nidali yearns to understand her roots. While dealing with the classical themes of adolescent stories – forbidden love, parental expectations, friends and sensuality – A Map of Home: A Novel reflects the international background of the United States. An interesting addition to the landscape of Arab-American novels. |
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ËáÇËíÉ ÛÑäÇØÉ by Radwa Ashour
The Granada trilogy is a novel in three parts. Covering a span of more than 100 years, from November 1491 to October 1609, the novel tells the story of a Spanish Arab family over three generations, spanning from the fall of Granada to the uprooting of the Arabs from Andalusia. The Trilogy won First Prize at the First Arab Woman Book Fair in 1995. |
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