- Nawāl al-Saʿadāwī (1931 – 2021, Egypt) – Mudhakarātī fī Sijn al-Nisāʾ (1983, English trans. Memoirs from Women’s Prison, 1994). This memoir describes the months that the author was imprisoned in the year 1981 in the al-Qanāṭir prison for criticizing Sadat’s normalization of relations with Israel (reference). She describes her relations with fellow prisoners and her coping mechanisms, such as finding any piece of paper to write on. The memoir also describes the one-man reign of al-Sadat as one that spread fear and panic amongst the Egyptian population (reference) (also in G: Dysfunctional Governance: Prison literature and Torture: Female Prison Experiences).
- Bahāʾ Ṭāhir’s (1935-, Egypt) – Al-Ḥubb fī al-Manfā (1995, English trans. Love in Exile, 2005). This novel centers a middle-aged Egyptian journalist who goes into exile following his disillusionment with political and nationalist ideologies following Sadat’s normalization policies and Israeli expansion in Lebanon (reference). His love-affair with the Austrian journalist Brījītta seems to provide him some solace from his feeling of loss, and his relationship with a European woman is pathologized as an attempt to conquer (reference) (also in L: Love, Lust, and Relationships: Inter-religious and ethnic (romantic) relationships: Between Arabs and Westerners).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Fayyiz ʿAlām. 2016. “#adab_alsujūn: Riwāyat ‘Mudhakkirāt fī Sijn al-Nisāʾ’.” www.raseef22.net, 27 May 2016 https://raseef22.net/article/24693-nawal-saadawi-prison-memoire (last accessed 17 April 2023)
- Somaya Abdul Wahhab. 2021. “The Subaltern Resurrected: A Study of Bahaa Taher’s ‘The Sunset Oasis’ (2007) and ‘Love in Exile’ (1995).” Transcultural Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences 1(2): 64-70, p. 65, 67