Reading Notes W15: El Saadawi, Part X

(extra credit) El Saadawi (1104-1114)

  • Egyptian novelist, Nawal El Saadawi writes that she realized early in her life how gender discrimination limits the opportunities of women in the Arab-Islamic world
  • "I had been born a female in a world that wanted only males" (1104)
  • she was born in 1931 in Kafir Tahla, a small village on the banks of the Nile, into a well middle class family with strong connections to the ruling elite of the country
  • after her graduation in 1955, she practiced as a psychiatrist before being appointed to the Ministry of Health, where she rose to become director of public health
  • she was dismissed from her post in 1972, after the publication of her book Woman and Sex
  • it arose displeasure of the Egyptian authorities for its frank treatment of a subject that was considered taboo
  • after losing her government position, El Saadawi devoted herself to research on women
  • she also worked for a year with the United Nations as an advisor on women's development in the Middle East and Africa
  • in 1981, she was imprisoned for 3 months during the campaign of repression against intellectuals by the Sadat regime
  • she is best known for her novel Woman at Point Zero (1979)
  • an account of a female prisoner condemned to death for killing a pimp (1105)
  • the short story "In Camera" is a representative sample of her work
  • the story criticizes the social system and state machinery in a fictional kingdom
  • its political theme is developed through the narrative of the trial and the irreverent portrayal of the king and the agents of the state
  • El Saadawi breaks the silence that surrounds the culture of abuse and repression of which women are often victims (1106)

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 7, 2018 at 11:37 AM

    Hi Alissa,
    I really like the format of how you take your notes in a bullet point style, you first write the quote that stood, part of the passage that you liked and other parts you can make connections with. I also like your little summary at the beginning of your note that gives an idea of what is happening in the story.

    ReplyDelete

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