Arab Women's Lives Retold: Exploring Identity Through Writing

Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East

by Nawar Al-Hassan Golley (Editor), Miriam Cooke (Foreword)

Examining late twentieth-century autobiographical writing by Arab women novelists, poets, and artists, this essay collection explores the ways in which Arab women have portrayed and created their identities within differing social environments. The collection goes well beyond dismantling standard notions of Arab female subservience, exploring the many ways Arab women writers have learned to speak to each other, to their readers, and to the world at large. Drawing from a rich body of literature, the essays attest to the surprisingly lively and committed roles Arab women play in varied geographic regions, at home and abroad. These recent writings assess how the interplay between individual, private, ethnic identity and the collective, public, global world of politics has impacted Arab women’s rights.

Genres: Middle East, Feminism, Nonfiction

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

A Professor in English and gender and women's studies, Nawar Al-Hassan Golley obtained her PhD in Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham, UK. Golley worked at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, UK, before joining AUS in August 1999. She has presented several papers at international conferences such as the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, published many articles in prestigious scholarly journals, and translated several literary and critical works by writers such as Adonis, Edward Said, Etel Adnan and others. Golley is the author of Reading Arab Women's Autobiographies. Shahrazad Tells her Story (2003) and editor of Arab Women's Lives Retold. Exploring identity Through Writing (2007 & 2012) and Mapping Arab Women's Movements. Transformations from Within (2012).

Reviews

[Diane Aubry]

Unnecessarily academic writing. Very disappointing

[Alyaa Bakeer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it for an academic purpose. Did not find it very enjoyable