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In Camera
- GenresShort Stories
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About the author
Nawal El Saadawi
117 books3,582 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 16, 2011
El Saadawi's "In Camera" is prime 20th century Dehumanization literature. The book shows the oppressive rule of an unnamed government and it's iron fist against outspoken individuals such as Leila, who also happens to be a woman, regarded as inferior in the culture. She is dehumanized by her oppressors raping and torturing her for calling the leader "stupid". The judge repeats her statement to the crowd of onlookers in the courtroom only to find the tables turned...
April 15, 2012
What a though provoking story! The message still needs to be said in today's date.
December 26, 2024
DEVASTATING...
no book has shattered me more than this, ever in my life, that I was almost on the verge of crying...
" Each time she had opened her eyes; she was very happy to discover that the monster had vanished, that it was only a dream. But now she opened her eyes, and the monster did not go away. She opened her eyes, and the monster stayed on her body. Her terror was so great that she closed her eyes again to sleep, to make believe that it was a nightmare. But she opened her eyes and new it was no dream.
no book has shattered me more than this, ever in my life, that I was almost on the verge of crying...
" Each time she had opened her eyes; she was very happy to discover that the monster had vanished, that it was only a dream. But now she opened her eyes, and the monster did not go away. She opened her eyes, and the monster stayed on her body. Her terror was so great that she closed her eyes again to sleep, to make believe that it was a nightmare. But she opened her eyes and new it was no dream.
November 23, 2022
A brilliantly written and thought-provoking short story. This is my first time reading anything by Nawal El Saadawi, and it definitely won't be my last!
❝Each time she had opened her eyes, she was very happy to discover that the monster had vanished, that it was only a dream. But now she opened her eyes and the monster did not go away.❞
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March 29, 2022قصة <الجلسة السرية> من https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
September 22, 2022
powerful but far too graphic for me
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November 20, 2023devastating and brilliant
November 20, 2024
very haunting and almost disgusting narration
May 10, 2022
Please please read if you can it’s only like 10 pages and can be found so easily online ! The translation by Shirley Eber is the best imo ! Taking world literature with an insufferable professor was worth it just to be introduced to this perfect short story.
November 14, 2011
I absolutely loved the story, how it gradually revealed everything that happened to Leila, to the gaping wound between her legs. It was heartbreaking to read in her point of view, and even in her parents' when it would suddenly jump between perspective. A great way of conveying the closeness of the family when the view would suddenly change, that her wounds were her parents'. The wound between her legs at first I didn't understand how she got it, but after reading about her horrific experience it became an amazing symbol of women inferiority in the culture she lives in. The fact that her vision was taken from her, being encased in a dense fog, attempting to find her parents through sniffing around for their scents... Leila was reduced to an animal. Her humanity stripped from her, trying to call for water but having lost her voice.
The lack of emotion in this piece is a great way to write because it shows how hardened she is to the turmoil she went through. Yet the only thing she feels when she does is fear, and she prefers to keep her eyes closed. To desensitize herself from the situation. Everything she didn't feel I felt for her, such a beautiful and tragic story.
The lack of emotion in this piece is a great way to write because it shows how hardened she is to the turmoil she went through. Yet the only thing she feels when she does is fear, and she prefers to keep her eyes closed. To desensitize herself from the situation. Everything she didn't feel I felt for her, such a beautiful and tragic story.
August 6, 2014
Read this for a Class, really good book. Feminist but worth reading. Woman are much more than just a sheathe for your dagger.
December 11, 2011
Wow...empowering. Woohoo feminism
May 3, 2017
Read for LIT 460
Saadawi writes a beautiful, moving story about a young Egyptian university student named Leila who calls the dysfunctional king "stupid" and subsequently endures 126 days of torture in the unjust judiciary system.
Saadawi writes a beautiful, moving story about a young Egyptian university student named Leila who calls the dysfunctional king "stupid" and subsequently endures 126 days of torture in the unjust judiciary system.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews