Arab Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999

by Radwa Ashour (Editor), Hasna Reda-Mekdashi (Editor), Ferial Ghazoul (Editor)

Arab womenâs writing in the modern age began with âAâisha al-Taymuriya, Warda al-Yaziji, Zaynab Fawwaz, and other nineteenth-century pioneers in Egypt and the Levant. This unique studyâfirst published in Arabic in 2004âlooks at the work of those pioneers and then traces the development of Arab womenâs literature through the end of the twentieth century, and also includes a meticulously researched, comprehensive bibliography of writing by Arab women. In the first section, in nine essays that cover the Arab Middle East from Morocco to Iraq and Syria to Yemen, critics and writers from the Arab world examine the origin and evolution of womenâs writing in each country in the region, addressing fiction, poetry, drama, and autobiographical writing.The second part of the volume contains bibliographical entries for over 1,200 Arab women writers from the last third of the nineteenth century through 1999. Each entry contains a short biography and a bibliography of each authorâs published works. This section also includes Arab womenâs writing in French and English, as well as a bibliography of works translated into English.With its broad scope and extensive research, this book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in Arabic literature, womenâs studies, or comparative literature. Emad Abu Ghazi, Radwa Ashour, Mohammed Berrada, Ferial J. Ghazoul, Subhi Hadidi, Haydar Ibrahim, Yumna al-âId, Suâad al-Maniâ, Iman al-Qadi, Amina Rachid, Huda al-Sadda, Hatim al-Sakr.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Feminism

540 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Radwa Ashour (Arabic: رضوى عاشور) was an Egyptian writer and scholar.
Ashour had published 7 novels, an autobiographical work, 2 collections of short stories and 5 criticism books. Part I of her Granada Trilogy won the Cairo International Book Fair “1994 Book of the Year Award.” The Trilogy won the First Prize of the First Arab Woman Book Fair (Cairo, Nov. 1995). The Granada Trilogy was translated into Spanish; part I of the Trilogy was translated into English. Siraaj, An Arab Tale was published in English translation, and Atyaaf was published in Italian. Her short stories have been translated into English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
Ashour has co-edited a major 4-volume work on Arab women writers (2004); The English translation: Arab Women Writings: A Critical Reference Guide: 1873-1999 is an abridged edition of the Arabic original.
As a translator Ashour has co-translated, supervised and edited the Arabic translation of Vol. 9 of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism.
In 2007 Ashour was awarded the 2007 Constantine Cavafy Prize for Literature.
She was married to the Palestinian author Mourid Bargouthi & a mother of Tameem who's also a poet.
Ashour was professor of English and Comparative Literature, Ain Shams University, Cairo.
she died on 30 November 2014

See alo:
Radvâ Âşûr

Reviews

[Mona Kareem]

very helpful and necessary

[Indran · Rating 5 out of 5]

It wouldn't be a huge exaggeration to credit this book with how I've spent the last eight months of my life. It has actually turned out to be a gateway drug into not just Arab women's literature but literature as a whole.

Though I had been dipping into this book for months, I've just completed a more concentrated, page-by-page skim. I chose to focus on novels and short stories more than than poetry, drama or autobiography. The result is a list of about 50 novels & short story collections that I am particularly excited to read (the only caveat being that many are hard to track down). As a student of Arabic who doesn't always understand the plots of what I read, this critical guide helps by providing clear, generally spoiler-free summaries of works that the editors consider to be of literary merit. It's also valuable that the editors aren't afraid to identify the shortcomings of seminal works.

Of ~500 pages, two hundred are encyclopedia entries (not that useful to me). The rest comprises the critical reference guide, full of thought-provoking yet succinct and very readable discussions of tone, thematic content, sociopolitical context and intertextual allusions. Also, introductions to each chapter impart helpful historical background in a way that manages to avoid being too dense or lengthy.

I highly recommend this book for readers of all stripes, whether or not you speak Arabic (plenty of the works have been translated to English) and whatever your tastes in literature may be (classical or modern, realistic or fantastic, etc). Compared to similar works, I've found this one more inspiring and far more approachable; it has opened a lot of doors.

[Clarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Много тъжно, но се наложи да прекъсна четенето на тази книга, както и на "The Spider's War. След тригодишна вярна и непрестанна служба четецът ми издъхна:(. Разбира се, конвертирах книжките в разпознаваем от компютъра формат, но се оказа, че мониторът и очите ми не се спогаждат. (А навремето изчетох по този начин многотомни саги...).
Така че, в очакване на по-добри времена, преминавам към хартиения вариант на "Малкият приятел" от неземната Дона Тарт. Пак е трудно за очите ми, ама нали виждането е волеви акт:). Също така " Бард" ненадейно ни зарадваха с "Убиецът на Шута" на Робин Хоб. Страшно уважавам господата Русинов и Тороманов, обаче в този случай текстът подлежи на още малко оглеждане и изглаждане, имхо:). Освен това се чудя защо някои значещи имена са ни предложени в превод, а значението на други е обяснено под линия:(. Но иначе съм щастлива - този път изпреварихме могъщите руски издателства, които още се чудят руският превод да го бъде ли.

[Morgan]

Didn’t actually read the entire thing 🤷🏻‍♂️ But I’m sure I won’t intend to complete this anytime soon. Great for research purposes!