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The well of life ;: And, The thread : two short novels
English (translation)Original Arabic
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Nawal El Saadawi
117 books3,736 followersNawal El Saadawi (Arabic: نوال السعداوي) was born in 1931, in a small village outside Cairo. Unusually, she and her brothers and sisters were educated together, and she graduated from the University of Cairo Medical School in 1955, specializing in psychiatry. For two years, she practiced as a medical doctor, both at the university and in her native Tahla.
From 1963 until 1972, Saadawi worked as Director General for Public Health Education for the Egyptian government. During this time, she also studied at Columbia University in New York, where she received her Master of Public Health degree in 1966. Her first novel Memoirs of a Woman Doctor was published in Cairo in 1958. In 1972, however, she lost her job in the Egyptian government as a result of political pressure. The magazine, Health, which she had founded and edited for more than three years, was closed down.
From 1973 to 1978 Saadawi worked at the High Institute of Literature and Science. It was at this time that she began to write, in works of fiction and non-fiction, the books on the oppression of Arab women for which she has become famous. Her most famous novel, Woman at Point Zero was published in Beirut in 1973. It was followed in 1976 by God Dies by the Nile and in 1977 by The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World.
In 1981 Nawal El Saadawi publicly criticized the one-party rule of President Anwar Sadat, and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. She was released one month after his assassination. In 1982, she established the Arab Women's Solidarity Association, which was outlawed in 1991. When, in 1988, her name appeared on a fundamentalist death list, she and her second husband, Sherif Hetata, fled to the USA, where she taught at Duke University and Washington State University. She returned to Egypt in 1996.
In 2004 she presented herself as a candidate for the presidential elections in Egypt, with a platform of human rights, democracy and greater freedom for women. In July 2005, however, she was forced to withdraw her candidacy in the face of ongoing government persecution.
Nawal El Saadawi has achieved widespread international recognition for her work. She holds honorary doctorates from the universities of York, Illinois at Chicago, St Andrews and Tromso. Her many prizes and awards include the Great Minds of the Twentieth Century Prize, awarded by the American Biographical Institute in 2003, the North-South Prize from the Council of Europe and the Premi Internacional Catalunya in 2004. Her books have been translated into over 28 languages worldwide. They are taught in universities across the world.
She now works as a writer, psychiatrist and activist. Her most recent novel, entitled Al Riwaya was published in Cairo in 2004.
From 1963 until 1972, Saadawi worked as Director General for Public Health Education for the Egyptian government. During this time, she also studied at Columbia University in New York, where she received her Master of Public Health degree in 1966. Her first novel Memoirs of a Woman Doctor was published in Cairo in 1958. In 1972, however, she lost her job in the Egyptian government as a result of political pressure. The magazine, Health, which she had founded and edited for more than three years, was closed down.
From 1973 to 1978 Saadawi worked at the High Institute of Literature and Science. It was at this time that she began to write, in works of fiction and non-fiction, the books on the oppression of Arab women for which she has become famous. Her most famous novel, Woman at Point Zero was published in Beirut in 1973. It was followed in 1976 by God Dies by the Nile and in 1977 by The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World.
In 1981 Nawal El Saadawi publicly criticized the one-party rule of President Anwar Sadat, and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. She was released one month after his assassination. In 1982, she established the Arab Women's Solidarity Association, which was outlawed in 1991. When, in 1988, her name appeared on a fundamentalist death list, she and her second husband, Sherif Hetata, fled to the USA, where she taught at Duke University and Washington State University. She returned to Egypt in 1996.
In 2004 she presented herself as a candidate for the presidential elections in Egypt, with a platform of human rights, democracy and greater freedom for women. In July 2005, however, she was forced to withdraw her candidacy in the face of ongoing government persecution.
Nawal El Saadawi has achieved widespread international recognition for her work. She holds honorary doctorates from the universities of York, Illinois at Chicago, St Andrews and Tromso. Her many prizes and awards include the Great Minds of the Twentieth Century Prize, awarded by the American Biographical Institute in 2003, the North-South Prize from the Council of Europe and the Premi Internacional Catalunya in 2004. Her books have been translated into over 28 languages worldwide. They are taught in universities across the world.
She now works as a writer, psychiatrist and activist. Her most recent novel, entitled Al Riwaya was published in Cairo in 2004.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 10, 2022
a pair of short novels that both explore the experience of self, and of connection and disconnect with self, and with another/others.
in big part explorations of womanhood, motherhood and childhood/girlhood in North Africa/the 'Middle East'.
explorations of relations between women and family, women and women, women and men, mother/parent and child - tho that was kinda a gross/crude binary summary, cos there were also several times when experiences, relations and sense of self outside of these binary norms were described, questioned and explored.
the language seemed at times dispassionate, objective, textbook anatomical... and at other times sensual, lyrical...
giving both disembodied, and very embodied, experiences. makes me think about the moments and situations in which a woman does not or does have control, and/or bodily autonomy, within the society she lives.
at times the stories seemed abit repetitive within themselves, but always circling around a point, a theme.
I accessed the stories as an RNIB talking book, and wondered if the slight strangeness at times in the stories /their telling might have been as much/more the readers choice of rhythm, tone and emphasis - it might have been a different experience reading them in print, and finding a different rhythm for them.
in big part explorations of womanhood, motherhood and childhood/girlhood in North Africa/the 'Middle East'.
explorations of relations between women and family, women and women, women and men, mother/parent and child - tho that was kinda a gross/crude binary summary, cos there were also several times when experiences, relations and sense of self outside of these binary norms were described, questioned and explored.
the language seemed at times dispassionate, objective, textbook anatomical... and at other times sensual, lyrical...
giving both disembodied, and very embodied, experiences. makes me think about the moments and situations in which a woman does not or does have control, and/or bodily autonomy, within the society she lives.
at times the stories seemed abit repetitive within themselves, but always circling around a point, a theme.
I accessed the stories as an RNIB talking book, and wondered if the slight strangeness at times in the stories /their telling might have been as much/more the readers choice of rhythm, tone and emphasis - it might have been a different experience reading them in print, and finding a different rhythm for them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review