Reading Arab Women's Autobiographies: Shahrazad Tells Her Story

255 Pages·2003·1.04 MB·English

by  Nawar Al-Hassan Golley

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R E A D I N G A R A B W O M E N ’ S
A U T O B I O G R A P H I E S
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Nawar Al-Hassan Golley
R E A D I N G A R A B W O M E N ’ S
A U T O B I O G R A P H I E S
Shahrazad Tells Her Story
U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S P R E S S , A U S T I N
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Copyright © 2003 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2003
Requests for permission to reproduce material from
this work should be sent to Permissions, University of
Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819.
(cid:1)(cid:2)
The paper used in this book meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Per-
manence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Golley, Nawar Al-Hassan, 1961–
Reading Arab women’s autobiographies : Shahrazad
tells her story / Nawar Al-Hassan Golley. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-292-70544-1 (cl.: alk. paper) —
isbn0-292-70545-x(pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Women—Arab countries—Biography. 2. Au-
tobiography—Women authors. 3. Feminists—Arab
countries—Biography. 4. Feminists—Egypt—Biog-
raphy. i. Title.
ct3748 .g65 2003
920.72(cid:1)089(cid:1)927—dc21
2003010933
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To my idols, Mother and Father,
to my darlings,
Jinan Petra and Cezanne-Jawad,
to my sisters and brothers,
to the memory of
my grandfather and aunt,
to the one I love the most,
I dedicate this book,
with love
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C O N T E N T S
ix:Acknowledgments
xi:Introduction
PART ONE
1: POLITICAL THEORY: Colonial Discourse,
Feminist Theory, and Arab Feminism
CHAPTER ONE
3: Why Colonial Discourse?
CHAPTER TWO
15: Feminism, Nationalism, and
Colonialism in the Arab World
CHAPTER THREE
35: Huda Shaarawi’s Harem Years:
The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist
PART TWO
53: NARRATIVE THEORY: Autobiography
CHAPTER FOUR
55: Autobiography and Sexual Difference
CHAPTER FIVE
75: Arab Autobiography: A Historical Survey
PART THREE
85: ANALYSIS OF TEXTS
CHAPTER SIX
87: Anthologies
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CHAPTER SEVEN
114: Fadwa Tuqan’s Mountainous Journey, Difficult Journey
CHAPTER EIGHT
131: Nawal el-Saadawi
CONCLUSION
181: The Literary and the Political
185:Appendix
Translation of the Introduction to the Arabic Edition of Memoirs from
the Women’s Prisonby Nawal el-Saadawi
189:Notes
211:Bibliography
225:Index
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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
This book would have been impossible without the constant support of my family. I
am especially grateful to them for looking after my children while I was working on
the last stages of it. My friend Dr. Pauline Homsi Vinson has been very generous with
her time in commenting and making valuable suggestions. I owe her a debt of grati-
tude. Thanks are also due to my professors, Dr. Elizabeth Boa and Dave Murray of the
University of Nottingham, who supervised my Ph.D. dissertation, the original man-
uscript of this book. I thank the great poet Adonis for inspiring me and Dr. Nawal
el-Saadawi for her generosity in responding to my questions. Special thanks to my
friend Dr. Ahmad al-Issa, at the American University of Sharjah, for believing in me.
I am grateful to Frances Fawkes for her suggestions and for proofreading the manu-
script. I must also thank my friend Dr. Kate McKafferty for her encouragement. The
librarians at both the University of Nottingham and the American University of Shar-
jah were very helpful. My thanks to them all. Last but not least, I thank the University
of Texas Press, in particular Jim Burr, the humanities editor, for publishing this book.
ix
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