Zainab - Couverture souple

Haikal, Mohammed Hussein

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1850772908 ISBN 13 : 9781850772903

Editeur : Darf Publishers Ltd, 2016

Synopsis

Zainab, a name which aptly reflects the beauty of this tale's protagonist is also the title of the first modern Egyptian novel written in native vernacular. Crafted in 1910 by a privileged member of society and a student at the time living in Paris, Mohamed Hassein Heikal later rose through the ranks of Egyptian politics and media. The writer, journalist and politician also holds a number of written works to his name, including The House of Revelation (1939) and Thus was I Created (1955).

Heikal successfully humanises and contextualises Egypt's societal issues without too reproachful a voice. As the great poet, Ahmed Fouad Negm said, 'it is better to wake your child up through laugher, rather than shouting at him'. Heikal expresses his sympathies with the fellah of Egypt, who despite the apparent reverence with which they are looked upon by society are still obliged to bear extreme difficulties, which they do so with great dignity. Their suffering remains unchallenged as they are routinely exploited by their employers, the state, 'religious leaders' and cheated out of education which results in the demise of their mental and physical wellbeing. Illnesses may be treated as a metaphysical phenomenon, rather than with a trip to the doctor, whilst depression is treated as a headache.

Zainab, a hardworking farmer girl, is to be married to a son of the landowner despite her love for another named Ibrahim. Heikal is highly critical of this traditional marriage practice, where young men and women are picked off by families and pushed together into marriage to suit the requirements of the parents over the needs of the young couple. This message is clear throughout the book, but appears most starkly in an open letter from Heikal to the public, guised as a note written by the character Hamid to his own father. Hamid states, 'To this day I consider the institution of marriage defective, on account of the conditions that are attached to it. Indeed I believe a marriage which is not based on love and does not progress with love to be contemptible.'

As Heikal wrote in his room in Paris he was undoubtedly influenced by his nostalgia, describing scenes in Egypt in a way that only an Egyptian could. He is a man who has succeeded in writing for the woman, and his critiques of society are logical and empathetic. Few are painted as evil in Zainab but the writer warns that as with most of society's ills, our failures are the consequence of apathy, silence and the desire to fulfil what is expected of us through convention, culture and our own ignorance.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Mohammed Hussein Haikal was born in 1888 in Kakr Ghannam, Egypt. At just 22 years of age, he wrote Zainab whilst studying Law at Sorbonne University in Paris. After returning to Egypt, he worked as a lawyer and then as a journalist, and later became the Minister of State for the Interior Ministry, and Minister of Education where he famously introduced several successful reforms.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Darf Publishers Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2016
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1850772908
• ISBN 13: 9781850772903
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 208
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible