Full Description
Ibtihal Salem's writing provides an excellent forum for studying both everyday life in Egypt and current literary experimentation in the Middle East. Her poignant pieces hover between the structure of story-telling, the visuality of vignettes, and the compression of poetry. They both record and evoke a literary ferment going on in Egypt today.
Salem's writing of the last thirty years is lauded for its social messages also. Finding the expression of sexuality necessary to explicate problems of Egyptian identity, Salem often links poverty to gender marginality. Her heroines, however, celebrate the heritages that have shaped them, even as they resist certain aspects of them. Like many writers in Egypt, Salem honors traditional folktales, even as she deals with contemporary problems from class and economic perspectives.
Marilyn Booth, one of the best translators of Arabic fiction working today, has dealt in her introduction to this collection with the unusual experimental form by examining Salem's craft as well as the contextual history surrounding the stories. Since Salem is writing "across genres," Booth helps the reader also by opening each piece with an explanatory comment, often quoting the author, and thus further illuminating Salem's portrayals of lives bounded by Egypt's waters-the Canal, the Nile, and the Mediterranean.
Contents
Introduction
Arabi
Anticipation
Behind Closed Doors
Making Bets
February
The Work Gang
Palm Trees and the Sea
Shadow Puppets
Tea Grown Cold
A Toast to the Full Moon
Cusp
Bags of Candy
Rage
My Friend "Patriot"
Little Things Don't Lie
Crumbs
An Empty Tin Can
The Shape of Prison
The Handsomest Portrait She Had Ever Seen
Rape
Everyday Duty
Threads of Thought
Open Wound
Songs from the Tree's Core
Pangs
Fire
Kite Full of Color
Lost Harbor
Song of the Wounded Heart
Glass Barricades
Nothing at All
Bitter Mirth
Short-lived Moments
Passage
The Boot
