Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture Page

* Manakh Al-'Asr ('The Climate of the Age'), Samir Amin, Beirut and Cairo: Mo'assasat Al-Intishar Al-'Arabi and Sinai Publications, 1999. pp192

Economist Samir Amin's latest work comprises six studies that offer a critical view of prevalent global discourse since the collapse of Socialist ideology in the East, of nationalist ideology in the Third World and of the new domination of unrestrained global capitalism, which aims to leave no alternatives on the horizon. Amin discusses the following topics: What is Constant and What is Variable in Dominant Economic Discourse; Transcending vs. Developing Modernism; a Critique of 'Information-Communication' Ideology; Conditions necessary for a Programme to liberate Humanity; a Return to the Question of a Return to Socialism; the Public and the Private in the Great World Religions. He focuses on the political and economic practices that go hand in hand with the new globalisation of capital, offering prescriptions for the possibility of transcending the crisis he describes. He particularly criticises the attempt to interpret history through the specificities of any particular religious creed.

* Al-Romouz Al-Tashkiliya fil Sehr Al-Sha'bi (Plastic Symbols in Popular Magic), Soliman Mahmoud Hassan, Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, 1999. pp.231

The author of this innovative book traces the origins of the drawings, recurrent forms and symbols of popular magic and points out that this heritage has had a tremendous capacity for persistence and adaptation, answering to the changing requirements of popular communities. The book is divided into four main parts, with sections devoted to 'animal forms', 'human forms', 'rings and stellar forms' and 'magic squares', and it amply demonstrates how such forms operate in popular belief systems, where it is believed that the power of specific forms can be used to meet specific needs on condition that certain magic words or spells be said or written. In his 'Introduction', the author writes that he hopes to present an 'open reading' of these elements of popular magic. This is all the more important, he says, as this magical aspect of popular heritage occupies an important position in popular culture as a whole.

* Min Al-Sadd Ila-Toshka (From the High Dam to Toshka), Ahmed El-Sayed El-Naggar, Cairo: Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, 1999. pp177

Egyptians began their attempts at controlling the Nile's uneven flow -- its variations both within the year and from one year to the next -- very early on: mediaeval texts, for example, contain records of floods and droughts brought on by variations in the Nile's waters. In this informative and compact book, Ahmed El-Sayed El-Naggar examines ancient Egyptian myths associated with the Nile, before going on to present the river's complete 'identity card'. He focuses on the High Dam project from its inception, discussing the scientific, economic and political debates that have surrounded it, as well as its funding, the controversy that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s with respect to its relative pros and cons, during which some even called for its demolition. Finally the author discusses the Toshka project, concentrating particularly on questions concerning the future supply of water.

* The Politics of Modernism, Raymond Williams, trans. Farouq Abdel-Qader, Kuwait: National Council for Culture, Art and Literature (Alam Al-Ma'rifa Series), 1999. pp283

Published posthumously, this book was put together and introduced by its author's students and friends. Its importance is twofold. First, it comprises the final stage of Williams's thought, without which any understanding of the work of this important British thinker and critic is incomplete. Williams was known to be his own best critic, and the modifications, additions and rewritings contained in this book throw invaluable light on his previously published work and clearly trace the development of the views with which he is associated. Secondly, the book does not restrict itself to one topic, for in it Williams tackles a whole array of issues -- from Modernism to the Avant-Garde, from Theatre to Cinema, from Media to Cultural Theory and a discussion of the effects of modern technology on the contemporary world are some of the subjects touched upon. The appendix comprises a fascinating discussion between Williams and Edward Said.

* Balaghat Al-Kadhib (The Rhetoric of Lying), Mohamed Badawi, Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, 1999. pp208

The three studies that make up this book deal with texts that are not only very old but are also rather marginal, and are all the more fascinating for being so. The first discusses a parable concerning the life of a black slave living in a white community during the disturbed period between the end of the pre-Islamic era and the triumph of Islam. The next two studies, on the other hand, deal with little-known stories from the Thousand and One Nights that have sometimes been ignored by critics. The first is that of the Shepherd and the Three Lambs, which concerns the search for a symbolic patriarch, while the second, a story with violent overtones, concerns the death and resurrection of a hunchback.

* Tohfat Al-Ahbab (Lovers Antics), Youssef El-Mallawani (Ibn El-Wakil), ed. Muhamed El-Sheshtawi, Cairo: Dar Al-Afaq, 1999. pp295

Tohfat Al-Ahbab, of which this is the first modern edition, dates back to the late 17th century. Its author, Ibn El-Wakil, lived during the Ottoman rule of Egypt and died in 1719. Humourously and with understanding, he writes about the Ottoman Caliphs, their biographies and deputies, as well as various aspects of the political, economic and social life of a period during which Egypt was under Ottoman occupation. The picture that emerges is at once realistic and shocking. As was the convention among historians of the time, the author begins with an extended introduction in which he extols the virtues of Egypt, its mention in the Qu'ran and the prophets and Caliphs who were born in Egypt or who lived there. In his second chapter he discusses Egypt's rulers up to the Islamic Conquest, and in the third he deals with Egypt's Kurdish, Mameluke, Turkish and Circassian rulers, before undertaking a commentary on the Ottoman rulers of his own time.

* Fusul min Tarikh Al-Islam Al-Siyassy (Chapters from the History of Political Islam), Hadi El-Alawi, Cyprus: Centre for Socialist Study and Research in the Arab World, 1999. pp379

The author of this collection, an Iraqi Shi'a intellectual whose outspokeness often resulted in his books being banned, died a few months ago, and the three texts presented here constitute an appropriate obituary. The three -- 'On Islamic Politics', 'Political Assassination in Islam' and 'On the History of Torture in Islam' have all been previously published, but their juxtaposition in this book throws light on the author's thought in a new way. In this book El-Alawi writes: "What concerns me first and foremost is to uncover the major events and also the major mistakes of our history... The doctrine is the worst possession of knowledgeable people, and forms an internal monitor no less harsh than an official one. It is responsible for the existence of a repressive conscience in individuals, and for the ways in which the freedom of that conscience is censored. Even if it is important in stirring up the public at a specific historical moment, the doctrine must nonetheless remain far from the mind of the researcher if it is not to turn, in Al-Ghazali's phrase, into a veil that clouds his vision."

Magazines and Periodicals

* Al-Kutub: Wijhat Nazar (Books: Viewpoints), No. 7, August 1999, Cairo: Egyptian Company for Arab and International Publication.

Highlights of the latest issue of this recently established, yet already widely acclaimed monthly review, include a learnedly entertaining article by Edward Said on the history of tennis (reviewing The Right Set: The Faber Book of Tennis), Marwan Bishara on the fall of Binyamin Netanyahu and the gradual rise of Barak, and Amina Rashid on a recent publishing sensation in France, Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi's, Le Prisonier, a book which deals with Oufkir's experience of political internment and early exile. She is the daughter of the Moroccan General Oufkir. In addition, Nevine Moss'ad analyses aspects of Coptic character, while Ali Fahmi reviews The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, a book that predicts aspects of the future by Ray Kurzweil. This issue also includes a translation of an article that originally appeared in the New York Review of Books on the great Bengali poet, Tagore.

* Al-Tariq (The Path), No. 2, 1999, Beirut: Dar Al-Farabi.

A bimonthly intellectual and political magazine published in Lebanon, Al-Tariq is edited by the senior Lebanese critic Mohamed Dakroub. This issue is entitled 'On Secular Rationalism and the Problem of the Right to Difference', and in it Mohamed Abbasa writes on the philosophy of Averroes, while Haitham El-Khababi discusses Abdel-Rahman El-Kawakbi in terms of critical self-consciousness and the rationality of religious reform. Writers tackling the concept of secularism and its various ramifications include Nidal Darwish, Saleh Sultan and Ghattas Abuieta, while in a section devoted to 'Readings in New Books Concerning the Arab Intellect and Arab Rationalism', Mustapha El-Wali writes on Abdallah El-Arousi's concept of mind and Abdel-Hafiz Hafiz discusses questions of rationality as these have been raised in a work by Elias Morqos, with Farahawi Said taking up the issue and further developing it. In addition to a chapter from Abdel-Rahman Mounief's latest novel, Ard Al-Sawad (Fertile Land), the issue also includes various articles on the Arabic novel. Yumna El-Eid writes on the novel and literary heritage; Gamal Shaheid writes on Shomous Al-Ghagar (The Gypsies' Suns) by Heidar Heidar; Maher Garrar writes on Bab Al-Shams (Door of the Sun) by Elias Khouri; Rafif Reda Sidawi discusses the Egyptian critic Amina Rashid's latest work The Fragmentation of Time in the Modern Novel; Shawqi Badr Youssef tackles the theme of alienation in a number of Egyptian novels and Samir Soiayfan offers a new reading of the Libyan writer Ahmed Ibrahim El-Faqih's Trilogy.

* Al-Jasra, No. 2, Spring 1999, Qatar: Jasra Cultural and Social Society.

In Al-Jasra's latest issue, Sami Hanna writes on modes of discourse in the Arabic novel, Mohamed Abdel-Mottilib about the prose poem, Oulwi El-Hashimi on images of emotion in Bahraini poetry, and Said Yaqtin on developments in narrative theory. The issue includes poems by Hassan Tilib, Helmi Salem, Isam Tarshahani, Ezzat El-Tairi and Soiad El-Kawari, together with stories by Gamal El-Ghitani, Rifqi Badawi, Ahmed El-Sheikh, Hamdi El-Batran, Amir Tagessir, Gamal Fayez and Hoda El-Neiiemi. Ahmed Zakareya reviews Fred Haliday's recent Islam and the Myth of Confrontation, while Ashraf El-Sabbagh writes on the fictional world of a significant contemporary Russian writer. In addition, Fakhri Miqwar discusses cultural affiliations in the Arab world, Mahmoud Hamid writes about the 'clash of civilizations', and Nabil Soliman remembers the late scholar Gamal Hamdan, 'shooting star' of Arab Social Geography. The issue concludes with reproductions of works by artist Nazir Nab'a.

* Idafat (Additions), 1999, Tunis: Arab Sociology Association in Tunis.

Idafat is an occasional publication published by the Arab Sociology Association in Tunis. The latest issue includes studies by El-Tahir Labib ('Determination and Initiative: From the Epic Intellectual to the Tragic Intellectual'), and El-Sayed Wilabah ('Interpretation and Enlightenment: A Study in the Project of Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid'). Its main content, though, consists of two lengthy studies, 'The Infrastructure of the New World Order' by Mohamed Abdel-Moniem Shalabi, and 'Sociology between the International and the Local' by Abdel-Qader El-Orabi. Other highlights include Adel Mustapha Ahmed discussing developments in Arab society, particularly with respect to housing, and a work of self criticism by Khaled El-Harroub, as well as articles on wedding ceremonies and on how international differences affect income by Abu-Bakr Ahmed Baqader and Mohamed Mohieddin, respectively. Under the title, 'The Sociological Movement', Idafat offers a summary of the association's activities and proceedings, including accounts of symposia and seminars, and various short reviews of public events.

*Afkar (Ideas), 1999, Amman: Ministry of Culture.

In the latest issue of this literary periodical published by the Jordanian Ministry of Culture, a large section is devoted to 'Jordanian Literature in Arab Critics' Eyes'. Mohamed Ali El-Yousufi discusses recent developments in the short story in Jordan, with Nabil Soliman exploring the various aesthetic aspects of these developments. Abdallah Ibrahim assesses narrative construction in the contemporary Jordanian novel. Perhaps surprisingly, the section does not examine contemporary poetry in Jordan. In a further section devoted to literary texts, the journal reproduces stories and poems by Mohamed El-Qaisi, Ibrahim Nasrallah, Abdallah Radwan, Adnan El-Saiigh, Ahmed El-Moslih, Abdel-Razzaq Abdel-Wahid and Gamal Nagui, among others. In the foreign literature section, there are translations of pieces by German and Argentinian writers. The issue also includes articles and reviews dealing with various aspects of the arts and the Arabic literary canon, as well as a longer piece by Youssef El-Youssef entitled 'Narration in the Jewish Novel'.

		Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 September 1999 Issue No. 446
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

At a glance