This book assesses the contribution of women to the Arabic novel, both in subject matter and form. It begins by tracing the struggle over women's rights in the Arab world, particularly the gradual improvement in women's access to education-the first area in which women made significant gains. Subsequent chapters discuss Arab women writers' remarkable talents and determination to overcome the barriers of a male-dominated culture; survey the 1950s and 1960s, during which women's writing gained momentum and more women writers emerged; and address the shift in emphasis and attitude that women's literature underwent in the late 1960s, especially following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, when women novelists began to place more stress on international politics. Zeidan adapts Western-based feminist literary theory to a discussion of Arab women's literature but refrains from imposing that theory inappropriately on literature whose context differs significantly.
He compares the women's movements in Arab and Western cultures and the development of women's literature in those cultures, and uses these comparisons to highlight similarities and differences between them as well as to consider how one affected the other. His analysis culminates in the early 1980s-the end of the formative years-when women's writing had become a familiar part of Arabic literature in general and a positive reflection on the collective Arab consciousness.
This book assesses the contribution of women to the Arabic novel, both in subject matter and form. It begins by tracing the struggle over women's rights in the Arab world, particularly the gradual improvement in women's access to education-the first area in which women made significant gains. Subsequent chapters discuss Arab women writers' remarkable talents and determination to overcome the barriers of a male-dominated culture; survey the 1950s and 1960s, during which women's writing gained momentum and more women writers emerged; and address the shift in emphasis and attitude that women's literature underwent in the late 1960s, especially following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, when women novelists began to place more stress on international politics. Zeidan adapts Western-based feminist literary theory to a discussion of Arab women's literature but refrains from imposing that theory inappropriately on literature whose context differs significantly.
He compares the women's movements in Arab and Western cultures and the development of women's literature in those cultures, and uses these comparisons to highlight similarities and differences between them as well as to consider how one affected the other. His analysis culminates in the early 1980s-the end of the formative years-when women's writing had become a familiar part of Arabic literature in general and a positive reflection on the collective Arab consciousness.
Acknowledgments Transliteration System Introduction 1. Women in Arab Society: A Historical Perspective 2. The Pioneering Generation Literary Societies Journals The Salons Women as Poets Other Important Creative Writers The Generation between World Wars Destiny and Demons: Conventional Devices Social Handicaps Development of a Female Literary Culture Conclusion 3. The Quest for Personal Identity Aminah al-Sa'id: New Beginnings Layla Ba'labakki's Rebellion: Two Novels Colette al-Khuri: Unconvincing Developments Layla 'Usayran: More Experiments Emily Nasrallah: Village Novelist Nawal al-Sa'dawi: Militant Fiction Discussion: Themes, Patterns, and Problems 4. The Quest for National Identity Al-Sa'dawi: A Link Between Personal and National identity Latifah al-Zayyat: The Open Door The Palestinian Question and the Novel The Achievement of Sahar Khalifah Liyanah Badr: A Compass for the Sunflower The Lebanese Dimension: Ghadah al-Samman Hanan al-Shaykh and The Story of Zahra Other Novelists and the Civil War Conclusion 5. Conclusions Appendices Appendix 1: Women's Journals in Egypt Appendix 2: Women's Journals in Lebanon Appendix 3: Women's Journals in Iraq Appendix 4: Women's Journals in Syria Appendix 5: Women's Journals in the Rest of the Arab World and Abroad Appendix 6: Novels Written by Arab Women (1887-1993) Notes References Index
Joseph T. Zeidan is Assistant Professor of Arabic at The Ohio State University. He is the author of two editions of Bibliography of Women's Literature in the Modern Arab World.
"This is an excellent study of Arab women novelists. For the first time in English, it presents a sustained analysis that shows their development over a period of almost one century and relates it cogently to the concurrent sociopolitical change in the Arab world. Written with great sensitivity and understanding and based on solid scholarship and wide reading in several languages, it is a significant contribution to the field of Arabic literature studies as well as to Arab women's studies." - Issa J. Boullata, McGill University
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