Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

---

Monthly supplement Light on the underground A quoi rêvent les loups (What Wolves Dream Of), Yasmina Khadra, Paris: Julliard 1999. pp274 Into the abyss Yasmina Khadra All in the detail Masters of the Trade: Crafts and Craftspeople in Cairo, Pascale Ghazaleh,1750-1850, Cairo Papers in Social Science Volume 22, Number 3, Fall 1999. pp157 A serious spinster Passionate Nomad, Jane Fletcher Geneisse, London: Chatto and Windus, 1999. pp402 Written by camera Ayam Al-Dimoqratiya: Al-Nisa' Al-Misriyat wa Homoum Al-Watan (Days of Democracy: Egyptian Women and National Elections), Ateyyat El-Abnoudy, Cairo: Kassem Press, 1999. pp197 Bizarre, perhaps The Bazaar, Markets and Merchants of the Islamic World, Text by Walter M. Weiss and photographs by Kurt-Michael Westermann, London: Thames & Hudson, 1999. pp256 All about Egypt Egypt: Nile, Desert, and People, Wolfgang and Rosel Jahn, Trans. by Manuela Kunkel and Ian Portman. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press 1999. pp191 + 300 colour illustrations Through the mask of Yasmine Layali Okhra (Other Nights), Mohamed El-Bisatie, Beirut: Al-Aadab Publishing House, 2000. pp180 Photohgraphs of Egypt and the Holy land, Francis Frith, Zeitouna Publishing, 1999 --see caption-- To the editor At a glance A shorthand guide to the month compiled by Mahmoud El-Wardani * Hikmet Al-Missriyeen (The Wisdom of Egyptians), introduced and edited by Mohamed El-Sayed Said, Cairo: The Cairo Centre for Human Rights, 1999. pp273 * Ashr Sanawat maa Farouq (Ten Years with Farouq), Karim Thabit, Cairo: Al-Shorouq, 2000. pp472 (Adel Hammouda and Me), Ahmed Fouad Negm, Cairo: Zeinab Publishing House, 2000. pp108 * Mirayat Al-Dhat Al-Okhra (Mirror of the Other Self), Sabri Hafiz, Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, Aswat Adabiya Series, 1999. pp365 * Moqarabat Al-Abad (Nearing Eternity), Gamal El-Ghitani, Cairo: Nahdit Misr Publications, 2000. pp96 * Al-Kotob: Wighat Nazar (Books: Viewpoints), monthly magazine, issue no. 13, February 2000 Cairo: The Egyptian Company for Arab and International Publication * Al-Fonoun Al-Sha'biya (The Folk Arts), a specialised periodical, issue no.58-9, Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organisation * Al-Osour Al-Jadida (New Eras), monthly magazine, issue no. 5, February 2000, Cairo: Sinai Publishing House * Nizwa, quarterly magazine, issue no.11, Oman: The Oman Institution for Journalism, Publication and Mass Communication * Al-Hilal, monthly magazine, issue no. 2, February 2000, Cairo: Al-Hilal Publishing House Books is a monthly supplement of Al-Ahram Weekly appearing every second Thursday of the month. We welcome contributions and letters on subjects raised in this supplement. Material may be edited for length and clarity; and should be addressed to Mona Anis, Books Editor, Al-Ahram Weekly, Galaa St., Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt; Faz: +202 578 6089; E-mail: m.anis@ahram.org.eg For advertising call +202-5780233; Fax +202 394 1866 To see other book supplements go to the ARCHIVES index.    Illustrations courtesy of International Commitee of the Red Cross "Folk drawings and tales", Cairo, 1996	Books A shorthand guide to the month compiled by Mahmoud El-Wardani Hikmet Al-Missriyeen (The Wisdom of Egyptians), introduced and edited by Mohamed El-Sayed Said, Cairo: The Cairo Centre for Human Rights, 1999. pp273 This collective work has taken more than 10 years to complete. Its editor, Mohamed El-Sayed Said, writes that the book is intended for ambitious secondary school and university students eager to form a comprehensive picture of Egyptian history as a way of preparing themselves for the adult, professional world in which they will shepherd their country into the future. As a reading experience, he adds, this is designed not so much as a history book as a book on history, and it is one that opens with the emphatic statement that the genuine challenge to which young people should apply themselves is the future rather than the past, and that exploring history can help them to do this.
	Ashr Sanawat maa Farouq (Ten Years with Farouq), Karim Thabit, Cairo: Al-Shorouq, 2000. pp472 Karim Thabit is one of six men and women who together formed King Farouq's closest circle and who knew and understood him best. This book, therefore, is an exceptionally significant document relating to the age of Farouq and his court, the society of which that was a part and the stormy years characterising his reign. The book, introduced by Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, is made up of two sections recounting the story of King Farouq in full, offering a range of indispensable insights into both the king's personal character and the political dynamics of his age.
	Mirayat Al-Dhat Al-Okhra (Mirror of the Other Self), Sabri Hafiz, Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, Aswat Adabiya Series, 1999. pp365 In June 1995, critic Sabri Hafiz travelled to South Africa spending several weeks travelling across the country, stopping at its major cities and accumulating a special understanding of it, the culmination of which is presented in this book. It is a "travel book", but one that is written with a sharpness and acuity that distinguishes it from other, sloppily executed exercises in the genre. It offers its readers a unique perspective on a unique country.
	Moqarabat Al-Abad (Nearing Eternity), Gamal El-Ghitani, Cairo: Nahdit Misr Publications, 2000. pp96 This is Gamal El-Ghitani's first literary work following the novelist's recent spell in hospital in the United States. His tenth collection of short stories, the book includes 11 texts, all of which attempt to capture something of the "limit" experiences of birth and of death. At such moments, and in texts that attempt to record them, memory functions in a special, more immediate and alert way, thoughts and sensations being registered with a special acuity. It is this phenomenon that the writer has taken as his subject.
	Periodicals Al-Kotob: Wighat Nazar (Books: Viewpoints), monthly magazine, issue no. 13, February 2000 Cairo: The Egyptian Company for Arab and International Publication In the customary opening article of this established review of books, Mohamed Hassanein Heikal tackles the current Israeli-Syrian negotiations, supplying information on the different political situation of each country, what degree of negotiating power each possesses, and where this comes from. In a further article musician Ratiba El-Hefni remembers the late composer Mohamed El-Qasabgi, commenting on El-Qasabgi's biography, the man's relationship to Umm Kulthoum (the anniversary of whose death takes place this month), and his musical achievement. The issue also provides extensive coverage of the recent violence in the village of Al-Kosheh, publishing articles by Fahmi Howeidi and Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour that complement and illuminate each other. Other highlights include a comprehensive review of Abdel-Wahab El-Missiri's Encyclopaedia of Jews and Judaism.
	Al-Fonoun Al-Sha'biya (The Folk Arts), a specialised periodical, issue no.58-9, Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organisation The reader may mistake the date on the cover of this magazine for an error, but the truth is that many periodicals published by the General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO) have appeared over two years late. The last issue of this magazine -- for January-December 1998 -- appeared only a few days ago, and it is still unclear whether this is designed to be an annual publication. If so, it is at least two issues behind. It is hard to understand why articles written and supposedly "published" two years ago are thought to be relevant to readers today.

Al-Osour Al-Jadida (New Eras), monthly magazine, issue no. 5, February 2000, Cairo: Sinai Publishing House Besides an impressive number of short stories and poems, the latest issue of Al-Osour Al-Jadida includes the complete text of a theological study by Mohamed Arkoun entitled "A Muslim's Meditations on Christian Divinity", as well as an extended interview with the economist Samir Amin by Fathi Abdallah. A separate section is devoted to the ancient history of Palestine, incorporating the second part of Abdel-Hadi Abdel-Rahman's study of Jewish conceptions of divinity, and includes an article by Ahmed Ossman on "The Betrayed Testament" and a commentary by Mohamed El-Ass'ad on articles published in previous issues of Al-Osour Al-Jadida that dealt with the true history of Palestine as opposed to the pretensions of Zionism. In his monthly column, "A Country Under the Sun", Faisal Al-Khayri writes about Alexandria, concentrating on its ancient history.

Nizwa, quarterly magazine, issue no.11, Oman: The Oman Institution for Journalism, Publication and Mass Communication The latest issue of this Omani quarterly incorporates a dossier on the Latin-American writer Jorge Luis Borges, in which Makram El-Misri's tribute to this master of economy and magic historian of Western thought appears side by side with a number of translated articles dealing with the various aspects of Borges's literary achievement, supplementing literary analysis with information about the writer's homeland, Argentina. Samir Farid discusses Hemingway in Spain through cinema, Mohsen El-Khafagi translates a text by Ionesco, and Nouri El-Jarrah, under the provocative title "Gilgamesh", discusses links between current Iraqi poetry and "Americanism". Elsewhere in the issue a number of respected writers deal with a broad range of intellectual topics ranging from Hegel to postmodernist discourse.

Al-Hilal, monthly magazine, issue no. 2, February 2000, Cairo: Al-Hilal Publishing House In the latest issue of this prestigious monthly Safinaz Kazim writes an obituary article of artist Mounir Kanaan, while Mahmoud Baqshish writes on another artist, this time belonging to the generation of the 1990s, Ibrahim El-Dissouqi. Film critic Mustafa Darwish provides a provocative article entitled "Arab Cinema and the Mirage of International Acclaim", while in the section entitled "Debate", Magdi Youssef comments on recent arguments concerning structuralism, an issue of contention that has nonetheless long been out-of-date in the West. Rabie Shita translates a significant article by Samuel Huntington, in which the author explains further his well-known "clash" of civilisations thesis.

	weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg