Al-Ahram Weekly | Books Supplement (January 2002)

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 10 - 16 January 2002 Issue No.568
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

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

Magazines and Periodicals

Al-Kutub: Wughat Nazar (Books: Viewpoints), monthly review of books, Cairo: Egyptian Company for Arab and International Publishing, January 2002

Several of the articles in this issue of Wughat Nazar, including the editorial by the well-known political analyst Mohamed Hassanein Heikal and articles by Tarek El-Bishri, Sherif Bassiouni and Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, are devoted to the war in Afghanistan and to the accompanying anti-Muslim rhetoric in the West. In addition, in the book reviews section, Abdel-Azim Anis reviews the English journalist Christopher Hitchens's recent book alleging that the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was involved in crimes against humanity, The Trial of Henry Kissinger, while Mohamed Al-Mili reviews La Guerre invisible: Algérie Années 90 (Invisible War: Algeria in the 1990s) by the French academic Benjamin Stora. The issue also includes a translation of the introduction to Veiled Half- Truths: Western Travellers' Perceptions of Middle Eastern Women by Judy Mabro, reproducing various orientalist paintings of women.

In the arts section, Mina Badi' Abdel-Malek discusses the history of Coptic art, and Ismail Serageddin comments on the 2001 Aga Khan Prize for Architecture. Of a more historical bent are Khaled Fahmy's contribution of "Al-Azhar and Medicine," an article that attempts to write the history of Egyptian medical institutions since the nineteenth century, and Walid Abdel-Nasser's "History of the Secret Contacts between Egyptian Jews, the Communist Movement and France," an account based on Mohamed Youssef El-Gindi's memoirs, Masirat Hayati hata 1964 (My Life until 1964).

Al-Hilal (The Crescent), monthly magazine, Cairo: Dar Al-Hilal, January 2002
The latest issue of this prestigious Cairo cultural magazine takes "prediction" as its central theme and includes articles by Ibrahim Fathi on "Naguib Mahfouz and Prediction," Salah Qunsuh on prediction in philosophy, Raouf Abbas on "History and the Future," Maher Shafiq Farid on "The English Literature of Prediction in the Twentieth Century" and Fahmi Abdel-Salam on prediction in literature. This is in addition to the magazine's regular contributors, who include Mustafa Soueif on writing contemporary history, Mohamed Ragab El-Bayoumi on a recently discovered account of the 1798 French expedition to Egypt and Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed on the crisis of political parties in Egypt. Ahmed Youssef Ahmed also writes on the current conflict in Palestine, Assem El-Dessouqi on King Farouk's iron guard in the 1952 July Revolution, Mustafa Nabil on the Assassins, and Amani Abdel-Hamid on development work at Qaitbay in Alexandria.
Finally, the issue includes two articles devoted to the late Egyptian scientist Osama El-Kholi who died last month; these are "From Aerodynamics to the Environment" by Rushdi Said and "Osama El-Kholi: Farewell" by Mohamed Abdel-Fatah El-Qassass.

Adab wa Naqd (Literature and Criticism), monthly magazine, Cairo: National Progressive Unionist Party Publications, January 2002
The present issue of Adab wa Naqd includes a section devoted to the "Palestinian Dream," including selections from the writings of three contemporary Palestinian poets, Abdel-Nasser Saleh, Mu'in Shalabiya and Soliman Daghsh, and critical studies of the work of Saleh and Shalabiya. The issue also includes a selection of Afghan literature, including work by Afghan poet Abdel-Ali Mustaghni (d. 1931). There are poetry and short stories by Abeer Salama, Saadeddin Hassan, George Nazir and Fatma Na'ut, in addition to critical essays on the poetry of Sherif Rizq by Ayman El-Dessouqi and on Kuhl Hagar, a novel by Khaled Ismail, by Mahmoud Abu Aisha. George Trabishi's controversial The Fate of Philosophy between Christianity and Islam, reviewed by Ayman Abdel-Rassoul, is given special consideration.

Al-Arabi (The Arab), monthly magazine, Kuwait: Ministry of Information, January 2002
The central theme of this Kuwaiti cultural monthly is "One year of the Intifada," and this allows the inclusion of articles on the Palestinian predicament by various hands, including Azmi Bishara's piece on "Destruction and the Building of a Palestinian Identity" and Mustafa Barghouti's "The Price is High, but Freedom is more Precious Still."
A further theme of the issue is "Islam and the West," considered by Hassan Hanafi under the title "The West and the Search for an Enemy", as well as by other authors, such as Mas'ud Daher, Mohamed Gaber El-Ansari and Mohamed Sid-Ahmed. There are also historical articles, including Nicola Ziyada's piece on makers of Arab-Islamic civilisation and Yasser Hamed Al- Ahmed's on Egyptian obelisks. In the magazine's arts section Abboud Attia writes on the work of Lebanese artist Camille Hawa.

Sotour (Lines), monthly magazine, Cairo: Sotour Publications, January 2002
The contemporary Arab predicament is the focus of this month's issue of Sotour, which includes pieces by Mohamed Raouf Hamed, Hazem Hosni, Ahmed Mohamed Saleh, Ayman Bakr and Suzanne George. In addition, Helmi Shaarawi writes on "American terrorism and the Subjugation of Africa," and Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr writes on "Setbacks to National Discourse."
In the magazine's arts section, Ahmed Raafat Bahgat writes on Arab cinema and international cinema, and Abdel-Raziq Okasha writes on recent exhibitions by Egyptian artists George Bahgory and Ali Abdel-Baqi in Paris. Ola El-Shafi' reviews the Syrian film "Two Moons and an Olive," which won a prize at last year's Damascus Film Festival, while Samia Khedr reviews the controversial television hit, "Hagg Metwalli's Family."

Ahwal Misriyya (Egyptian Affairs), quarterly, Cairo: Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, Fall 2001
The main theme of this issue of Ahwal Misriyya, the only socio-political journal devoted exclusively to Egypt, deals with the breakdown of the Egyptian working class and the causes behind it. In this vein come contributions by Abdel-Basit Abdel-Moeti, Mohamed Gamal Imam, Saber Barakat and Baher Shawqi, which look at the present situation of the country's trade unions. Ilham Bidraws studies workers at Tenth of October City, while Wafaa Mohamed Attia looks at workers' attitudes towards the draft new labour law, and Suzanne Ahmed Abu Rayya writes on seasonal workers in Egyptian cities. Hassanein Kishk writes on workers' protest movements.
In addition, the issue also includes articles on various other social and political issues, Khaled Abdel-Rasoul writing on Islamic weddings and Kamal Mughith on the anthropology of Egyptian titles and forms of address. In the arts section, Ali Hamed writes on the work of artist Tahiya Halim, and Hoda Mekkawi writes on Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, while Salah Bisar writes on the late Bahgat Osman. Finally, Sayed Said reviews the state of documentary filmmaking in Egypt, and Yousssef Abdel- Hamid writes on pioneers of Egyptian theatre.

Books

Taqarir Al-Sayeda Ra' (Reports from Mrs R), Radwa Ashour, Cairo: Dar Al-Shorouk, 2001. pp127

Reports from Mrs R is a semi- autobiographical collection of short stories concerning the trials and tribulations of a female protagonist, Mrs R, in coming to terms with a rapidly changing reality that offers few consolations. Those familiar with the works of Radwa Ashour, one of the most gifted contemporary Arab novelists whose masterpiece, The Granada Trilogy, has won many literary prizes, will not fail to notice common traits linking Mrs R with Ashour herself, particularly now that the Trilogy has won international recognition following the translation of its first part into both English and Spanish. Of the 12 "reports" that make up Reports from Mrs R, two in particular, Mrs R Ponders the Two Cambridges and A Report of Mrs R's Journey to Spain, will strike a chord with many readers, depicting the mixed feelings of a Westernised Arab intellectual as she visits Western cities that has long played an important role in her intellectual formation. However, there are also other reports that are equally rewarding, and these include much meditation on what is sometimes called "writing about writing in writing," a notion that is of prime importance to Ashour, one of the most able Arabic prose writers. Nothing very much happens in the life of Mrs R, but the sentences with which she composes her Reports often take on a life of their own, making reading about her affairs both gripping and therapeutic.

Al-Ittihad Al-Orobi min Al-Ta'awun Al-Iqtisadi ila Al- Siyasa Al-Kharigiyya wa Al-Amniya Al-Mushtaraka (The European Union: From Economic Co-operation to Common Foreign and Security Policy), edited by Emad Gad, Cairo: Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, 2001. pp223
The countries of the European Union provide an example of how limited regional economic co-operation has been moving towards common foreign and security policies. This experience, the editor says, could provide lessons for enhanced Arab co-operation. In this collection of essays the focus is on how the European Union has dealt with the problems and conflicts of the post-Cold War era and on how it has acted towards the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, now waiting to join the Union's institutions.

Suqut Al-Nuwar, Mohamed Ibrahim Taha, Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, 2001. pp175
This, Mohamed Ibrahim Taha's first novel, is a tightly constructed piece of writing, fully displaying this promising writer's talent. Set in an Egyptian delta village in the recent past, it presents a realistic picture of human experience there, being unseduced by the kind of ideological considerations that beset so many similar pieces of work.

Rigal Al-A'mal -- Al-Dimuqratiya wa Huquq Al-Insan (Businessmen -- Democracy and Human Rights), Mohamed El-Sayed Said, Cairo: Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, 2001. pp171
"Businessmen do not generally have strong motives to participate in the struggle to solve the nation's various problems, yet civil-society organisations and institutions still fear their power, even if they pretend to ignore it. This negative image of businessmen and of their unapproachability further perpetuates this situation, such that evident difficulties lie in the path of efforts to arouse democratic consciousness among businessmen. This is in addition to opposition from the State to any increase in freedom and to furthering political and civil participation." Thus writes Mohamed El-Sayed Said in his introduction to this, his latest book, which attempts to look positively on the potential contribution to be made to democratisation by the nation's business community. The book is partly based on a poll of the business community's views on democratisation conducted in 1998.

Mamalik 'Aliya (High Kingdoms), Mohamed Ali Shamseddin, Beirut: Dar Al-Adab, 2001. pp144
This is Lebanese poet Mohamed Ali Shamseddin's most recent collection of poetry, his first book, "Poems Smuggled to my Beloved, Asya," being published in 1975. Born in the south of Lebanon, Shamseddin belongs to the generation of the sixties, his poetry being much concerned with Arab national and political ordeals. His latest collection is a statement of defiance on the part of a sixties poet against contemporary trends in Arab prose poetry.

Al-Quds bayn Al-Intifad wa Al-Tafawod (Jerusalem: From Uprising to Negotiation), Mohamed Khaled Al- Az'ar, Cairo: Arab Media Centre, 2001. pp187
This book is the seventh in a series published by the Arab Media Centre in Cairo, each dealing with questions related to Jerusalem and aiming to refute Zionist myths about the city and the claims to which they have given rise. In it, Mohamed Khaled Al-Aza'r, a Palestinian political scientist, suggests the outlines of an alternative plan to combat Israeli attempts at altering the Arab demographic and historical character of the city, dealing with the struggle between Israeli and Palestinian institutions for control over Jerusalem, the Arab financial support necessary for combating Zionist attempts at appropriation and the transformation of the Palestinian struggle over the past 34 years. Finally, he suggests ways in which a Palestinian economy of resistance might be created in order to combat the "luxury colonisation" currently taking place around Jerusalem.

Madafi' Sharon (Sharon's Guns), Medhat El-Zahed, Cairo: Dar Al-Kalima, 2002. pp231
This book is concerned with the reality of conflict and resistance in Palestine, discussing two political agendas. The first of these has to do with attempts by successive Israeli governments to turn interim Palestine self-rule into what for them would be a final solution of the Palestinian question, being a Palestinian micro-state that does not enjoy full sovereignty and that is partly occupied by Israeli settlements. The second is the Palestinian agenda, which consists of a determination to expel Israeli occupation forces along with Israeli settlers and to establish a genuinely independent sovereign state. This book argues that Sharon's guns cannot end the conflict between these two agendas, Palestinian resistance having defied Sharon's plans and his policy of strangulation, which is designed to create a Palestinian Bantustan. As the book points out, the Palestinian people have resisted persistent Israeli attack, their movement for self-determination only growing and gaining support throughout the Arab World.

Recommend this page

© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved

Send a letter to the Editor