11 - 17 January 2001
Issue No.516
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 11 - 17 January 2001 Issue No.516 |
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At a glance
A shorthand guide to the month compiled by Mahmoud El-Wardani
Magazines and Periodicals
Al-Kutub: Wughat Nazar (Books: Viewpoints), monthly magazine, January 2001, Cairo: The Egyptian Company for Arab and International Publications
In this issue of the distinguished review of books, veteran writer Mohamed Hassanein Heikal supplies the fourth installment of his expansive account of Israeli 1967 war documents -- "summer reading" that has extended into winter. The British journalist Harold Evans's interview with Clinton on the occasion of the end of the latter's term in office, originally published in London some months ago, is reproduced here in an accurate translation. Ezzeddin Naguib takes stock of artist Helmi El-Touni's most recent exhibition, probing questions concerning the artist, culture and identity. The magazine's book review section raises a wide variety of issues. There is Magda Baraka on the pre-Revolution Egyptian aristocracy, which takes up a good deal of this issue's space, and the Yemeni politician Mohsen Al-Aini's recent book on "the quicksand of Yemeni politics" is the subject of a remarkable article by Hassan Abu-Talib, who uses it as an opportunity to examine the question of modern Arab state-formation.
Al-Hilal (The Crescent), monthly magazine, January 2001, Cairo: Al-Hilal Publishing House
The New Year commemorative issue of this prestigious monthly bespeaks renewal as format, layout and content expand. Seven seasoned names (invariably all associated with Al-Hilal) reflect the issue's overriding concern with the future: Gamil Mattar on "What lies ahead? The Jewish question revisited"; Ahmed Youssef on the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Arab-Israeli conflict; Hussein Ahmed Amin on inheriting the earth; Ahmed Abouzeid on whether Egyptian mores have changed; Ahmed Saleh on the information revolution; Mustafa Soweif on a century of movers and shakers, and Mustafa Darwish reviewing a century of cinema.
Sotour (Lines), monthly magazine, issue no. 50, January 2001, Cairo: Sotour Publications
The main theme of the current issue, following in the footsteps of three previous ones devoted to the Intifada, relates to the question of what to do about it now. Answers to the question are provided by an extensive array of writers and scholars, including Mahmoud Abdel-Fadil, Magdi Hammad, Taha Al-Magdhoub, Abdella Belqaziz, Ibrahim Saadeddin and Borhan Al-Dajjani, on topics ranging from the possibility of a new, fully developed and effective Arab strategy to the role of time in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Another highlight is the full transcription of a seminar organised by the magazine under the title "The Strategy of Resistance". Sotour, in this issue, more than lives up to its speedily acquired reputation as an essential resource for documents and images on current affairs. Thus, this issue's "File" section contains a selection of UN announcements and resolutions relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict, on whether Zionism is a form of racism, and on the issues of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees.
Al-Arabi (The Arab), monthly magazine, issue no.506, January 2001, Kuwait: Ministry of Information
This issue of the Kuwaiti magazine devotes many of its pages to the choice of Kuwait as the Arabs' "Cultural Capital" this year, producing a rich and varied dossier on the occasion. This includes a study of the Kuwaiti traveller and pioneer of journalism Abdel-Aziz Al-Rashid, an article on Kuwaiti postage stamps, a critical study of the history of Kuwaiti poetry and a profile of Kuwaiti musician Ali Al-Ansari. The rest of the issue is divided between intellectual and literary topics: Ahmed Abu-Zeid on "searching for postmodernism"; Ramadan Al-Sharrah on the Arab stock exchanges and their success in economic integration; Doha Ahmed on artist Sabri Raghab; Ahmed Saleh Al-Faqih on "Problems in the origin of Ijtihad" (Islamic exegesis); Abdalla Al-Ghozami on a "unique line of poetry"; Gaber Asfour on poetic inventiveness; and a number of short stories and poems.
Al-Fann Al-Mo'asir (Contemporary Art), quarterly, issue no.2, Cairo: Academy of Arts Publications Fresh from the Academy of Arts, this second issue of the Academy's quarterly contains an impressive number of European and American critical studies, as collected and translated by the Academy's professors and teachers. In categories ranging from theatre to critical theory, these cover an astounding expanse of territory, from "Reinventing the human face" to old French movies, Antonin Artaud's "Theatre of Cruelty" and the richness of popular culture. All told, a remarkable second issue of a promising new publication.
Adab wa Naqd (Literature and Criticism), monthly magazine, issue no.184, Cairo: National Progressive Unionist Party PublicationsAmong the articles in the latest issue of this Cairo critical magazine, Gamal El-Banna's enlightened plea "What We Demand Is Freedom" stands out as a rare example of politically directed writing that manages to be illuminating even as it denigrates and incites. Otherwise, the main theme of the issue is the "Revolution of Stones," and this is explored through poems by Helmi Salem, Abdel-Nasser Saleh and Soliman Daghash, as well as a variety of stories, studies and articles that includes Hanan Ashrawi on "Dissecting Racism". Other notable pieces include a translation of an article that first appeared in Le Monde depicting the author's visit to Mohamed Al-Dorra's house in Palestine, as well as an account of the Intifada by Eissa Darwish entitled "Mahmoud Darwish, the Blood of Children, the Ink of Poetry".
Books
Diwan Abi Nawwas Al-Hassan Ibn-Hani' (Collected Poems of Abu Nawwas) Cairo: General Organization for Cultural Palaces, Al-Dhakha'ir Series, 2000. pp263
A favourite pariah of Arabic poetry, reclaimed by 20th-century existentialism, Abu Nawwas is a master whose diwan, or collected poems, alas, no longer seems to be in print in its entirety. Part of the reason for this undoubtedly lies in the poet's predilection for libertarianism and eccentricity. His sexually explicit poems have shocked generations of readers, yet his influence is multifarious, and no proper canon of Arabic poetry can be purged of the endeavours of Abu Nawwas. He is, in fact, the censor's perfect nemesis, something that has encouraged censors through the ages to apply their scissors liberally to his work. To see this carefully edited (German) edition of the complete diwan republished (in four volumes, of which the present one is the third) is therefore an occasion for considerable joy.
Youssef Seddiq wa Gamal Abdel-Nasser wa Ana (Youssef Seddiq, Gamal Abdel-Nasser and I), Aleya Tawfiq, Cairo: The Ahram Centre for Translation and Publication, 2000. pp223
This book is not only the autobiography of a strong woman of the political Left, but also an accurate record of a defining moment in Egyptian history. The author, Aleya Tawfiq, was a political activist and the wife of army officer Youssef Seddiq, who played a main role in the drama of the Free Officers' success against the monarchy in 1952, allowing them to take over the country. It is only natural that most of Tawfiq's pages should be devoted to Seddiq, and she has fascinating things to say about his relations with the various political forces of the time, his role in the coup d'état (on which the Revolution depended), his exile to Switzerland and Beirut, his return under an assumed identity, his arrest, his wife's arrest, and their experience of prison along with many heroes of the national struggle.
Malafat Al-Hadatha (The Dossiers of Modernism), Abdel-Aziz Mowafi, Cairo: General Organization for Cultural Palaces, 2000. pp310
The author of this remarkable critical study considers Hussein Afif, Ibrahim Shukralla and Bishr Faris to be the fathers of Arab modernism, and the book, in fact, is partly intended as a step towards addressing the question of their omission from more conventional accounts of 20th century Arabic literature. The author is not content with presenting the life and work of these three venerable fathers, however; he has also included a selection of their complete texts, as well as contemporary reviews showing how they were critically received in their time and how they later came to be neglected.
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