The novel and the rural imaginary in Egypt, 1880-1985

Name: The novel and the rural imaginary in Egypt, 1880-1985
Author: Samah Selim
ISBN: 0415318378

by Samah Selim (2004)

Read Free Sample Buy on Amazon Audible Free Trial

About this book

"This book places the field of modern Arabic literature studies in the context of contemporary debates in the humanities about the relationship between narrative, history and ideology. In this sense, it addresses pressing issues raised by literary theory, literary history and postcolonial studies, and grounds these broader discussions in a study of a particular narrative genre - the novel - as it has been constructed and produced over a century in a local/global context. The book locates questions of languages, genre, textuality and canonicity within a historical and theoretical framework that foregrounds the emergence of modern nationalism in Egypt. The ways in which the cultural discourses produced by twentieth-century Egyptian nationalism created a space for both a hegemonic and counter-hegemonic politics of language, class and place that inscribed bifurcated narrative and social geography are examined. The book argues that the rupture between the village and the city contained in the Egyptian nationalism discourse is reproduced as a narrative dislocation that has continued to characterize and shape the Egyptian novel in general and the village novel in particular. Reading the village novel in Egypt as a dynamic intertext that constructs modernity in a local historical and political context, rather than rehearsing a simple repetition of dominant European literary-critical paradigms, this book offers a new approach to the construction of modern Arabic literary history, as well as to theoretical questions related to the structure and role of the novel as a worldly narrative genre."--BOOK JACKET.

Setting / LocationDeep Space

Story EraModern Era

Protagonist / CoreThe novel and the rural imaginary in Egypt, 1880-1985 Lead Character

Themes & Moods

History Arabic fiction Country life in literature History and criticism Country life Arabic literature, history and criticism Modern Era

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

The cosmic dancers

Amit Goswami, with Maggie Goswami

You may not qualify as a scientist, but you love reading science fiction and are intrigued by problems of time, space, mind, and reality. You'd like nothing better than to explore the solar system, travel to the stars, and really penetrate the mysteries of hyperspace, curved space, black holes, and supernovae. The Cosmic Dancers will take you through the most challenging concepts of modern physics with the aid of examples from such masters of science fiction as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Silverberg, and Ursula K. Le Guin, not to mention their predecessors H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Cyrano de Bergerac.

They fought in the creature features

Tom Weaver

These men and women saved the planet from aliens, behemoths, monsters, zombies, and other bloated, stumbling threats--in the movies, at least--and now they tell their stories. Julie Adams, John Agar, Richard Anderson, John Archer, Jeanne Bates, Billy Benedict, Turhan Bey, Lloyd Bridges, Ricou Browning, Robert Cornthwaite, Louise Currie, Richard Denning, Anne Francis, Mark Goddard, June Lockhart, Eugene Lourie, Jeff Morrow, Lori Nelson, Rex Reason, William Schallert, Don Taylor, George Wallace and Jane Wyatt give behind-the-scenes insights into such classic movies as Creature from the Black Lagoon, Forbidden Planet, Destination Moon and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. They also discuss the impact "monster-fighting" had on their careers and what they are now doing. Some interviews were previously published in different form in fan magazines.

Disaster movies

Glenn Kay and Michael Rose

Complete with a foreword by Mike Nelson, host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, this dynamic guide to one of Hollywood's most popular and enduring genres provides a history of the disaster genre, descriptions of its trends and unusual traits, portraits of famous stars, and reviews of more than 150 disaster movies. The films reviewed include everything from famous titles such as The Poseidon Adventure, Titanic, and The Towering Inferno to more obscure movies such as The Night the World Exploded, Terror on the 40th Floor, and War Between the Planets. Casual disaster-movie fans, as well as die-hard lovers of the genre will benefit from the rating system, which ranges from "Highly Recommended" to "Avoid at All Costs," and the dubious "Recommended for All the Wrong Reasons."

Imagination and meaning in Calvin and Hobbes

Jamey Heit

"This critical analysis of Calvin and Hobbes explores Calvin's world as an intertextual space, revealing a deep reservoir of meanings. Close readings of individual strips highlight the profundity of Calvin's world with respect to a number of life's big questions, including what an individual values, friendship, God, death, and other struggles in life"--Provided by publisher.