At a glance

A shorthand guide to the month compiled by Mahmoud El-Wardani

Magazines and periodicals

Al-Kutub Wighat Nazar (Books, Viewpoints), monthly review of books, Cairo: The Egyptian Company for Arab and International Publishing, August 2001

This issue's leading article is senior political analyst Mohamed Hassanein Heikal's "Rediscovering America" which delineats his own discovery of the US and critiques Colossus: How the Corporation Changed America edited by Jack Beatty. Moheiddin El-Labbad reviews several recent US publications in the genre of political cartoons, exposing flagrant biases against Arabs in many such works. Hani Shukrallah, the Weekly's managing editor, reviews Be Thou There: The Holy Family's Journey in Egypt , a coffee-table book by Gawda Gabra with photographs by Norbert Schiller. Finally, Mohamed El-Mily writes on identity as an Algerian issue and Mahmoud Awad offers a retrospective of the life and work of Soad Hosni.

Sotour, (Lines), monthly cultural magazine, Cairo: Sotour Publishing House, August 2001

The main section of the current edition of the Cairo magazine Sotour concerns "the hostile other," incorporating themes from "our eternal enemy" and the United States' search for a "new enemy" to "the local other" and "Algeria's severed self." All in all, a very satisfying mini-compendium of articles on this fascinating theme, put together by, among others, Mohamed Raouf Hamed, Anwar Mughith, Ahmed El-Magdoub, Karim Abdel-Salem, Ahmed Saleh and Aziz Haidar. Elsewhere in this issue, highlights include Helmi Sha'rawi on "racist winds heading south," Saad El-Qersh on the recent death in London of Egyptian actress Soad Hosni and Khaled El-Seggini on Mohamed Khan's recent film Days of Sadat. There is also an interesting interview by Emad Fouad with filmmaker Radwan El-Kashef.

Durra, occasional newsletter, Cairo: National Committee of Egyptian University Professors Against Zionism, issue no.8, 15 May 2001

Penned mostly by academics of various disciplines and titled Durra in obvious reference to Mohamed Al-Durra the child martyr of the Intifada, this issue of the newsletter marked the anniversary of the 1948 Nakba. Poet Murid Al-Barghouti wrote "Hope Throwing Its Gloves in Our Faces," while Mohamed Farag Abul-Nour contributed an article on "The Rape of a Nation" chronicling the history of Israeli occupation. Anis Sayigh wrote on "The File of Zionist Terrorism," Radwa Ashour wrote "Notes on Judaism and Zionism" while Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri wrote on "The Impotence of Victory" and Ahmed Amer on the "Humanitarian Needs for Bombing Iraq and Repressing the Intifada." The National Committee of Egyptian University Professors Against Zionism can be reached at ansareg@yahoo.com

Books

Al-Cinema Al-Misriya wa Huqqouq Al-Nas (Egyptian Cinema and People's Rights), Hashim El-Nahhas, ed. Cairo: Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, 2001. pp81

Published as a result of the Cinema and Human Rights Conference held in Cairo last October, which was organised by the Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, this book contains critical analyses of six indispensable classics of the Egyptian screen: Youssef Chahine's Alexandrie encore et toujours [Alexandria Now and Forever], Shadi Abdel-Salam's The Night of the Counting of the Years, Ismail El-Qadi's Al-Mutalaqat [Divorced Women], Ali Badrakhan's Al-Gou' [Hunger], Tawfik Saleh's Al-Mutamaridoun [The Rebels] and Atef El-Tayeb's Al-Barie [The Innocent]. The texts are by Ahmed Youssef, Esam Zakareya, Farida Marie, Mohamed Abdel-Fattah, Mohsen Wafi and Rafiq El-Sabban, and the book is illustrated with stills from the films.

Al-Azhar wal-Shuyoukh (Al-Azhar and the Sheikhs), Mohamed Suoud Cairo: Al-Gomhoreya, 2001. pp160

This book attempts to give a complete picture of the development of Al-Azhar University in Cairo since its foundation in the time of Jawhar Al-Saqalli, viceroy of the Fatimid Caliph in Egypt. Thus, there are chapters on mosque and university covering the Ayyubid, Mameluke and Ottoman periods, down to the present day, one major point of interest being the author's description of the role played by Al-Azhar during the French expedition to Egypt in 1798 and of Mohamed Ali's contribution to its development in the first half of the 19th century. As this book demonstrates, Al-Azhar is one of the world's greatest educational institutions, its graduates including many of the most important figures in modern Egyptian history, such as Omar Makram, Mohamed Abduh, Ahmed Orabi and Saad Zaghloul. With such a list of alumni, Al-Azhar should perhaps also be considered as one of the country's most important political institutions.

Al-Gamiyat Al-Ahliya Al-Islamiya fi Misr (Islamic NGOs in Egypt), Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr, Amin Abdel-Khaleq, Azza Khalil, et al, Cairo: Dar Al-Amin, 2001. pp317

This book, the record of both theoretical study and fieldwork undertaken by a team of specialists at the Centre of Arab Research, looks in detail at the emergence of Islamically-oriented civil-society groups in Egypt working independently of Political Islam, but being part of a general Islamic movement. It will be of the greatest interest to anyone interested in contemporary Egypt. The rise of Islamically-oriented civil-society groups and associations is, in the words of one of the scholars whose work is represented here, "a phenomenon that has imposed itself on sociologists, political scientists and even economists for several decades", being one that links the work of the State in the social field to the "dynamics of civil society."

Yawmiyat Mudarris Al-Banat (Diaries of the Girls' Teacher), Khalil El-Gizawi, Cairo: Madbuli, 2001. pp207

The events of this novel take place inside a girl's high school. The protagonist is a handsome and ethical Arabic language teacher, symbolically called Gamil. Aged 35 and involved in cultural activities at the school he becomes the centre of the girls' attraction and their adolescent fantasies. The critic Yousri El-Azab describes the work as "a good novel that emphasises its author's true talent and his narrative and constructive abilities."

Wulaat Misr (Egypt's Viceroys), Mohamed Ibn Youssef Al-Kindi, Hussein Nassar, ed. Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, Al-Dhakhair series, 2001. pp268

This is the first book to appear in the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces' Al-Dhakhair series following the crisis when three novels published in the Organisation's Aswat Adabiya series, were banned. However, now the Al-Dhakhair series, which reprints cheap, popular editions of seminal works from the Arabic canon, has resumed its activities with the publication of this book, one of historian Mohamed Ibn Youssef Al-Kindi's most important works. The book's significance derives partly from the sheer amount of information it contains, some of which cannot be found in any of the other canonical histories, such as those by Al-Tabari or by Ibn Al-Athir. Thus it offers a unique perspective on Egyptian life from the Arab Conquest to the establishment of the Fatimid state, supplying information on notables, parties, places and tribes.

Nabd Al-Ashiaa Al-Dai'a (The Pulse of Lost Things), Sherif Hatata, Beirut: Dar Al-Adab, 2001. pp288

Sherif Hatata is a veteran left-wing activist who has taken part in the socialist movement in Egypt since the 1940s, despite his aristocratic background and his having suffered many years of political detention. A well-respected scholar and visiting professor at Duke University in the United States, Hatata has published books on politics, several volumes of memoirs and six novels. This, Hatata's latest novel, is an unexpected departure from his usual, politically-oriented narrative style.

Al-Thaqafa Al-Maghribiya, (Moroccan Culture), Issue No. 18, Rabat: Ministry of Culture and Communication, June 2001

The most recent issue of this Moroccan quarterly looks in depth at the question of the function of literature at the present time, many respected critics and intellectuals from across the Arab World, including Mohamed Berrada from Morocco, Edwar El-Kharrat from Egypt and Fouad El-Takarli from Iraq, contributing notes towards an answer. In particular, all three authors look at the historical meaning of such a question, examining why readers now should be asking what is literature and what its use is. A fascinating enquiry, carried out in the spirit of Sartre, that, in addition to the Arab contributions mentioned, also includes an interview on the subject with Italian critic and novelist Umberto Eco. Other articles in the current issue include pieces on "modernism vs fundamentalism" and "the objective novel." There are also poems and short stories by members of the contemporary Moroccan avant-garde, including Mohamed Al-Sarghini, and Idris Alouch.

Aafaq, (Horizons), Issue No. 65-66, Rabat: Moroccan Writers' Union, 2001 At the centre of the present issue of this remarkable compendium published by the Moroccan Writers' Union is the figure of the late Moroccan intellectual and poet Alal Al-Fasi. Under the general title of "regressive references and liberated horizons," many Moroccan writers and intellectuals have joined efforts here to evaluate the life and work of one of Morocco's most important men of letters. Thus, Osman Ashqara provides an intellectual biography of Al-Fasi, Abdel-Kerim Ghallab tackles the epistemological dimensions of his work, Al-Sadeq Al-Amairi discusses Al-Fasi's contribution to the Arabisation of Moroccan culture, and Mubarak Rabie looks at the figure of woman in his writings and at the idea of personal freedom. The current issue also includes poems by Jaafar Al-Alaq, Aziz Al-Hakim, Mohamed Budouma, Ahmed Al-Waziri and Rachid Zerwal and short stories by Abdel-Maguid Al-Hawwas, Al-Tali' Al-Hiddawi and Abdel-Meguid Shukair, as well as a variety of other articles and reviews.Hadith Al-Qimma (Summit Talk), Fatna Al-Bieh, Casablanca: Dar Al-Fenak, 2001. pp140

Hadith Al-Qimma (Summit Talk), Fatna Al-Bieh, Casablanca: Dar Al-Fenak, 2001. pp140

Following the passing of King Hassan II two years ago and the accession to the throne of Mohamed VI, the Moroccan government has sought to provide recompense to many of the victims of unlawful political detention in the country during the 1970s and 1980s. An important part of this process of opening up the past to critical scrutiny is the publication of books like the present one, which is made up of testimonies by such victims. Thus, in Hadith Al-Qimma, Fatma Al-Bieh has revealed much of interest about life in the secret desert detention camps operated by Hassan II's regime, particularly about those detention camps for female prisoners. Such prisoners, Al-Bieh writes, suffered a systematic programme of moral and physical oppression designed to eliminate their identity and erode their sense of self. A disturbing book, but a necessary one.

Constructing Egyptian journalism

Al-Ahram: Asr Al-Takwin, 1876-1926 (Al-Ahram: The Formative Years, 1876-1926), Yunan Labib Rizk, Cairo: Al-Ahram History Centre, 2001. pp271 The author of this seminal volume, Yunan Labib Rizk, is professor of modern history at Ain Shams University and one of the leading historians of modern Egypt. Rizk is the founder and driving force of the Al-Ahram History Centre whose main scholarly contribution is the ongoing Diwan series which uses the issues of Al-Ahram as a window onto Egypt's political, economic and social history. Serialised every Thursday in the daily Al-Ahram as well as our own Weekly, the Diwan is one of the most popular sections of the newspaper.

As part of the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of Al-Ahram, the Arab world's oldest continuing newspaper, Rizk has produced this volume which is in fact a history of the early years of the newspaper itself.

In this work, the author has designated the years 1876 to 1926 as the formative years of Al-Ahram arguing that it took that long for the paper to take its now familiar traditional shape. Al-Ahram is often considered to maintain and uphold a rather traditional, sedate style of journalism. The newspaper's character and internal divisions have persevered, at times undergoing periods of calm followed by rejuvenation, but ultimately giving the newspaper a stable identity. What allowed Al-Ahram to persevere and engrain itself in Egyptian culture, Rizk insists, is the paper's ability to Egyptianise itself beyond the Syrian origins of its founders, the Taqla brothers.

The book is divided into three sections: "In the face of authority," "A newspaper for Egyptians," and "Constructing the paper." In the first section Rizk retraces from the pages of the newspaper as well as from other historical sources (including memoirs and police records) many of the political challenges that the Taqlas had to face because of articles that were deemed politically incorrect by the ruling powers. The first showdown came in 1879 as a result of an article on the injustices that befall the Egyptian peasant. The weekly edition of the paper was duly censored for two weeks. Censorship also meddled with the paper during the 1919 revolution, so that the issues of 19 and 27 January, as well as 10 March appeared with the first two columns on the front page blank. By that time the paper was fully engrained in Egyptian national politics and sentiments.

It is during those 50 constructive years, 1876-1926, Rizk proves, that the main traditional sections of the newspaper were born and took shape. These include the long Friday editorial by the editor-in-chief, the daily columns by distinguished writers, the specialised features, in addition to serialised novels, advertisements and, of course, the infamous obituaries. The long weekly editorial by the editor-in-chief rose to fame as "Bisaraha" (Frankly Speaking) by Mohamed Hassanein Heikal and for the past two decades "Bihudu'" (Calmly Speaking) by the current editor-in-chief Ibrahim Nafie. What is unbeknown to most readers is that it started in 1889 as "Lamha" (A Glance) by Selim Taqla. Among the most celebrated daily columns was "Ma Qall wa Dall" (Briefly) especially when it was penned by Ahmed El-Sawi Mohamed beginning in the 1920s.

Al-Ahram: Asr Al-Takwin is full of interesting insights on the newspaper's history that testify to its author's diligent pouring over thousands of issues. Yet the reader cannot help sensing that a lot of the material had been compiled rather hurriedly thus lacking the coherence expected of a study on the history of such an important newspaper. So, for one obvious example, while the author designates in this volume the years 1876 to 1926 as "the formative years" he does not, neither in an introduction nor a conclusion, explain the basis for choosing those particular years. This book will, nevertheless, prove an invaluable contribution not only to the history of Al-Ahram but to the history of Egyptian and Arab journalism in general.

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