the open door latifa al-zayyat essay

2021/05/21

We meet our protagonist, Layla, as a young girl experiencing her first menstrual cycle. She constructed a shell of emotional serenity from her certainty that she was acting correctly, that she was perfectly self-sufficient, and that no one could harm her or cause her pain. Im glad The Open Door was brought back into publication, it was a landmark work in womans writing in Arabic when it was first published in 1960, an important commentary on the challenges women and girls in so many societies face, a consequence of patriarchy; an effect that is being busted wide open today, forcing transparency, offering support, healing and with hope, gradual change in many countries today. She used non-literary language not just in the books dialogue, but also in interior monologues and indirect speech. Now, we have internet dating and mobile phones. Now a hack working for state television, Nasir meets Fatin, an independent woman older than himself who has escaped a suffocating marriage and is secure in taking what she wants from life. But when the waves cast up a chest that speaks in a language no one can comprehend, Gomaa is haunted by its voice. by Ann GoldsteinNeapolitan Tetralogy Book1, Fresh Water for Flowers by Valrie Perrin tr.Hildegarde Serle, A Sister's Story by Donatella Di Pietrantonio tr. The novel criticised the way women had to behave and dress, without attracting the slightest attention to themselves; the self-hatred with which the protagonist Laila grows up because she is a girl; and the social barriers that are placed in front of young women in the name of tradition and morality.. In Mohamed El-Bisaties lyrical novel, the stories of these various figures converge on the mercurial presence of the lake, which in the end proves the narratives true hero. Dalal and her neighbors try to maintain normal lives, despite the crippling effect of bombings and international sanctions resulting from the first Gulf War. Flatter them.. Although The Open Doortells a story set in a specific time period, it was also ahead of its time in many ways. While he gives away nothing about his past, his undemanding companionship prompts the woman to narrate her turbulent life. It has been an inspiration for a large number of women who seek to challenge the status quo for women in the Arab world and achieve change. 4 0 obj And there she remained. In essence, the book asks: Is it possible to do the right thing by oneself, and ones community, when its so easy to please others? History in the backround..a woman struggling to find her place in it! His sister knelt hastily to retrieve it; as her head bobbed up, level with Mahmuds, she paused in mid-movement, her eyes flashing as if an extraordinary thought had just popped into her head. After neer-do-wells spread rumors about a widowed mothers weak moral character among the people of a slum on the outskirts of Tunis that festers with migrants who have come to the metropolis from the heartland in search of a better life, her twenty-year-old son takes matters into his own hands and commits an unspeakable crime. Critic and author Abbas al-Aqqad (1889-1964) apparently intervened, threatening to resign his government post unless the prize was rescinded. As the tumult of the lake drives a wedge between the couple, it turns two neighbors into close allies: Karawia, a caf proprietor, and Afifi, a grocer. Meanwhile, in a nearby village by the lake, Gomaa and his wife have found respite from the dreariness of their existence in the fantastic objects the sea churns up during galesa sword, alluring panties, a talisman. Registration confirmation will be emailed to you. In "El Bab El Maftuh", Latifa al-Zayyat took on the widespread misogyny in Egyptian society like no other writer before her. February 1946: Cairo is engulfed by demonstrations against the British. The father, a symbol of an older generation unable to come to terms with the social and political changes unfamiliar to it, is also representative of a zombified middle class with no adaptable or innovative vision for the countrys future. Thoughts, challenges, and essays on the art and craft of translation. Eventually, they too will be haunted by the siren song of the lake. Latifa Al-Zayyat(1923-1996) was an Egyptian writer and political activist born in Damyat. She shouted anew in a voice different from hers, a voice which unified her being with a collective one. She soon comes into her own, leaves her betrothed, and falls in love with a fellow revolutionary in Port Said, against the backdrop of the war on the Suez Canal in 1956. Lobby Forum.. Talks with authors, translators, publishers, & more. sports, entertainment, travel and lifestyle, local businesses and schools, in addition to Tightly crafted and skillfully told, Absent is a haunting portrait of life under sanctions, the fragile emotional ties between individuals, and, ultimately, the resilience of the human spirit. When I get bigger Ill show those Englishmen! Being independent of Russia must not lead to dependence on authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. If a reader puts their nose right up against the glass, peering in at the lives of Cairos European-aspiring bourgeoisie of the 1940s and 1950s, then things have indeed changed. And how, in this world of injustices, does one productively resist? Call it anything you want, but not love.. Religion and freedom of expression: The birth of a new theocracy? By turns affectionate, wry, and darkly comic, Absent paints a moving portrait of people struggling to get by in impossible circumstances. She was also an activist and imprisoned more than once for her intellectual and political stance, her criticism of society and desire to break down taboos. For Women in Translation Month, ArabLit revisits the 1960 novel: The feminist novel remains not just relevant but prescient, giving us a glimpse of a possible shared feminist future. Now, seventeen years later, its been re-issued in a new paperback edition from Hoopoe Fiction. I hope it gets more widely read and discussed, particularly given the continued struggle that exists everywhere today and to get an inside view from within another culture, to see and understand the universality of these themes. Then Husayn passed through her existence and a vibrant current touched her, setting off the sort of animated reactions that anyone who followed the rules and was clever at reckoning consequences would hardly dream of. Obituary: Fatima Mernissi: Icon of Arab feminism. Using socialist and communist states as a blueprint, Nasser embodied a modern, secular Egypt, which he nevertheless ruled with an iron hand. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Founded in early 2010, Cairo West Magazine was created to serve the prestigious and Laylas older brother Mahmud returns, wounded in the clashes, and the events of that fateful day mark a turning point in her life, an awakening to the world around her. Marilyn Booth#WITMonth, View ClaireWordByWords profile on Facebook, Literary Gems Latifa al-Zayats The Open Door by Ismail Fayed, Remembering Latifa al-Zayyat By Amal Amireh, Dauntless to the End bySherif Abdel Samad, The Four Insights: Wisdom, Power and Grace of the Earthkeepers by AlbertoVilloldo, Women in Translation 2018 Summary #WITMonth Word by Word, Booker International Prize Shortlist2022, What Happened To You? A few years ago, al-Zayyat said that writing The Open Door today would be an impossibility, she said, roads to salvation are blocked; the common ground of shared values seem to break down into multiple different sets of values according to the varied social strata; the common sensibility and its language is no more; people lacking national unity are divided and subdivided until each is turned into an insular island.. The resolution of this volatile mix lies in a violent confrontation between repulsion and desire. Claire! Reviews of Arabic literature and Arabic literature in translation. In this essay, renowned Lebanese journalist and writer Hazem Saghieh asks whether the Arab Levant, which stretches from Iraq in the East to Egypt in the West, will remain an By 2050, the Middle East and North Africa could be dealing with many more elderly people suffering from dementia. Find t-shirts, prints, stickers, and more. Is it possible to get out from the long shadow of relationship violence? While its not an overly politically involved novel, the history of the nation over a ten year period, deftly matches the progress of the young woman as she tries to forge a path for herself, realising how tied to social codes she is, both complies and considers busting out of those expectations, to live life more on her own terms. AsSherif Abdel Samad said in the introduction to his article linked below: In El Bab El Maftuh (The Open Door), Latifa al-Zayyattook on the widespread misogyny in Egyptian society like no other writer before her. endobj By and large, parents dont arrange the marriages of their university-age daughters without their knowledge or consent. The take-off point of the story happens when Layla gets her first period, which to her father is humiliating and shameful enough to bring tears to his eyes. Layla paused on the bank, observing lifes current as it pushed forward, and something in her heart rebelled. Al-Zayyat tackled a timeless hot topic that continues to regenerate itself among Arab women. An imaginative and disturbing novel told from the alternating viewpoints of this unrepentant sociopath, as he sits and fumes on death row but willingly guides us through his juvenile exploits and twisted memories, and his murdered mother, who calmly gives an account of her interrupted life from beyond the grave, A Tunisian Tale introduces the narrative talents of Hassouna Mosbahi to an English-language audience for the first time, as he confronts both taboos of Tunisian society and the boundaries of conventional storytelling. Why precisely mine, not the children of other people?, What if everyone forbade his children to go and so no one went at all?, Of coursewhat do you care? A yearning for escape and a fear of loneliness propel him into a relationship in which he is at once enraptured and non-committal. % I must investigate further. Lailas dream is only finally fulfilled when she gives up her individuality in favour of a collective identity. She was Director of the Arts Academy and a member of the Supreme Council for Arts and Humanities, publishing many works on politics, literary criticism, as well as novels, short stories, memoir, and drama. We do not know if we are in a harem or not, or whether love is forbidden or allowed. Oppression by those in political power was not fundamentally different from the methods of a gang of murderers, she summarised in the novel with some bitterness. 5)*c#bq2 +AiUUua 4vc?Lw)l>&lgPBg3QiU5a=?]_Hp& heATDF.\ t1j?/%[:Rxn\fT MddtV tf&LQ|B%raUeR9g7zk&Jn9%Ru)Uj Al-Zayyat was arrested for the first time, along with her first husband, in 1949. <> Given she was an academic and an activist/feminist, her work eventually becomes the subject of analysis, although it was controversial at the time it was published due to her use of a more colloquial Arabic, causing her nomination for a certain prize to be revoked, thanks to the loud noises of some member of the patriarchy. Me, too! In life, time runs together in its sameness, but in fiction time is condensedone action springboards into another, greater action. This spoken language, still considered vulgar by a number of critics, was particularly well-suited to al-Zayyats project: exploring a middle-class womans coming-of-age, her relationships, and the possibilities of her activism. By Changiz M. Varzi, Her book "Al-Bab al-Maftooh" (The Open Door), published in 1960, made Latifa al-Zayyat famous overnight. <> Thx for this reading tip. When I grow up.. The novel wasadapted into a popular 1964 film by Henry Barakat starring megastar Faten Hamama,as well as to theatre, including a 2012 staging at Egypts Bibliotheca Alexandrina. And the romantic and nationalistic undertone of al-Zayyats avant-garde novel fits with the pan-Arabian ideal that dominated at the time. Clamor of the Lake begins with the appearance of an old fisherman of unknown origin sailing a black boat. Check out the awesome Cairo city guides on our sister website http://cairopulse.net to know where to go, what to do, and what's new in town! RIF Trust Expands To The MENA Region For Residency and Citizenship, VictoryLink Organizes Initiative to Support Egypts Contemporary Women, Do Your Beach Style Shopping For Summer 2022, Summer Travel Options For Those looking To Travel Without A Visa. The emancipatory picture of women drawn by al-Zayyat in 1960 undoubtedly corresponded to the then-President Gamal Abdel Nassers secularist and autocratic understanding of politics. It really sounds like an important and interesting book to read. F0N13`&p"I9:tZ"-"}]{~~x/ c HfE4sowa-n_?B. Layla is a symbol of the new generation who was able to develop a different sense of self apart from the one stipulated by her conservative upbringing. The final section sees Layla not exactly make her own decisions, but find a way to at least explore her thoughts and desires without the oppression of others opinions, it coincides with a period of war, adding to the perceived danger, now the challenge is survival and participation in the struggle offers her a way through the chaos. One of the female characters in The Open Door describes her generations dilemma by saying, Our mothers knew their situation, whereas we are lost. Indeed, The Open Door was put forward for a major literary prize. Black Magic was awarded the prestigious Sawiris Foundation Prize in Egyptian Literature in 2006. Weapons, wea She stopped dead, her arm dropped to her side and the words stalled on her lips. Your father works to the bone and sweats and perseveres so that your Excellency can become a full human being.. HassounaMosbahi Translated byMaxWeiss 10.99 Buy Now. Books tell women they are free, and yet if a woman really believes that, a catastrophe will happen and her reputation will be blackened.. Ill definitely be reading this thanks Claire! Her rebellious spirit seeks to free itself from the stifling social codes that dictate a young womans life, just as Egypt struggles to shake off the yoke of imperialist rule. Her reputation as a feminist writer was sealed by the film version of the novel, starring the legendary actress Faten Hamama (at the time, the wife of Omar Sharif). Never mind, she will continue to be read and revered and he, whoever he was, what legacy did he leave? Instead, Layla begins as a strong character, is ground down, and then must put herself back together again. Her autobiography casts a critical eye over the various phases of her life, describing her student years as a political activist and Nassers death, though the book hardly touches on his repression. When she falls in love for the first time, the boy becomes jealous and possessive. stream endobj MohamedEl-Bisatie Translated byHalaHalim 8.99 Buy Now. There she existed, fortifying herself against life, so fearful; and suppressing all the well-springs of spontaneity and lively inquisitiveness that were in her nature. Laylas journey is far from an outdated one, her experiences, heart-wrenching disappointments, love, betrayal, and political persona, all come together to create one of the most complex and profound works of contemporary feminist literature. The Open Door was belatedly given the inaugural Naguib Mahfouz Prize in 1996, just a few months after al-Zayyat died of cancer. Yet something in her mind pulled her back, enveloped her to imprison her on shore. 1 0 obj In the era of Sadat, who had more than 1500 intellectuals and opposition supporters locked up shortly before his death in 1981 for opposing his liberal economic and peace policies with Israel, al-Zayyat was imprisoned once again. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. This has not aged well. The novel criticised the way women had to behave and dress, without attracting the slightest attention to themselves; the self-hatred with which the protagonist Laila grows up because she is a girl; and the social barriers that are placed in front of young women in the name of tradition and morality. Areview by ArabLits MLQ that ran on Bookwitty earlier this yearlooks atThe Open Doorsreception in Egypt. She loses sight of herself and is oriented instead to the values of her parents, her boyfriend Isam, Professor Ramzi, and her friend Adila. Press Enter / Return to begin your search. Like so many Egyptian writers of the Nasser era, who were unable to articulate their thoughts freely, al-Zayyats prose becomes caught up in a repetitive, flowery and sometimes muddled language, which seems immature and fails to reflect the social contexts of the time convincingly. 2 0 obj insightful articles on local celebrities and people of interest. 5 Beach Mood Summer Reads You Have to Pick Up Today, Leena Pekkalainen: Passing on her Passion for Ancient Egypt to Children, Diwan Bookstore's January Recommendations, Author Ronnie Explores Cairos Ultras in his New Book.