At a glance

Magazines

Wujhat Nazar, monthly review of books, issue #53, June 2003, Cairo: The Egyptian Company for Arabic and International Publication The latest issue of this famous monthly opens with a reading by Mohamed Hassanein Heikal of several Bush Administration documents, incorporating a review of the recently published book Bush at War. Azmi Bishara supplies a reading of the 1996 American strategy document, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm." Though it is seven years old, this document pertains directly to what is happening now in the Middle East. Together, these articles form a locus for related topics, the contents of the rest of the issue also being related and including Farouk Abdel-Qader on the tragedy of Karbala, Ibrahim Al-Haidari on contemporary Shi'ite discourse, Laila Abul-Magd on the plunder of Babylon, and Ayman El-Sayyad on Bin Laden.

Al-Hilal, monthly magazine, issue #6, June 2003, Cairo: Dar Al-Hilal Similarly overwhelmed by American actions in the Middle East, the most recent issue of the established Cairo monthly devotes a folio to the question of how Washington thinks. Examining issues from the dilemma over Iraq to the new conservativism in the West, writers like Mustafa Nabil and Amin Shalabi give a range of answers. A variety of additional articles and reviews occupy the rest of the magazine, including Abdel-Rashid Al-Sadeq and Mohamed El-Desouqi on Taha Hussein, Abdel-Azim Anis on the nature of intelligence, Galal Amin on the autobiography of Mohamed Abul-Ghar, Safinaz Kazim on Ghouriya, Sabri Mansour on Ahmed Sabri and Mustafa Darwish on the recent film The Hours.

Sutour, monthly magazine, issue #79, June 2003, Cairo: Sutour Publications The central topic of this issue of Sutour is eugenics, with a range of topics from the pharmaceuticals industry to "George W. Hitler" and the return of McCarthyism in the United States being discussed by writers like Raouf Hamed and Yaser Shaaban. There is also a translation of US literary critic Fredric Jameson's well-known article, "Globalisation, Hegemony, Americanisation." The rest of the issue includes a broad variety of articles, including a discussion of "the Hollywood virus."

Al-Muhit Al-Thaqafi, monthly magazine, issue #20, Cairo: Ministry of Culture In its most recent issue this magazine marks 20 years since the death of Egyptian poet Amal Donqol, reviewing the recent Supreme Council of Culture seminar on the poet. Several other such events are also covered, including the fifth annual conference of the National Centre of Sociological and Criminological Research, the 15th International Islamic Conference, and the Festival for Arab Women Creators in Tunisia. The issue includes an interview with musician Ammar El-Sheri'i, while its central section deals with the current situation in Iraq and the future of that country. Writers including Nabil Zaki and Abdel-Aal El-Baqouri discuss the easy victory won by Anglo-American forces fighting the Saddam regime and Arab stances on this. Under the heading of "Visual Culture," many writers review television, theatre.

Zawaya, monthly magazine, issues #4 and 5, June 2003, Bierut: Difaf for Publication The latest, double issue of this new and lively publication includes a central section on Iraq, with contributions by, among others, Fouad Al-Takarli, Baisan Taha, Suzanne Eliewan and Akram Za'tari. The magazine also provides an account of the life and work of Moroccan artist Mohamed Al-Daris, who died recently in Paris. Other highlights include an interview with Moroccan writer Mohamed Shukri, reviews of the Cairo El-Warsha Theatre Company's last production and of the Port Said singing troupe El-Tanboura.

Fusoul, critical quarterly, issue #61, winter 2003, Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organisation The notion of criticism as a means of maintaining contact with the literary world finds renewed expression in this issue of the refurbished journal of criticism. An account of a seminar on culture and the July Revolution, in which writers and critics such as Ibrahim Fathi, Osama Anwar Okasha, Tharwat Okasha and Ahmed Hamroush, among others, took part, is juxtaposed with serious-minded articles such as Sami Soliman Mohamed's study of social theatre in Egypt in the period 1952-1967, concentrating on the institution and responses to a reality undergoing transformation. Gamil Atia Ibrahim's recent trilogy of novels, which relates to the same theme, is given a generous review, while the issue also offers numerous reviews of books, conferences, research papers and Web sites.

Books

Rushdie Saleh wal-Folklore Al-Misry (Rushdie Saleh and Egyptian Folklore), Mohamed El-Gohari, Cairo: Cairo University Centre for Sociological Studies and Research, 2003. pp629 Ahmed Rushdie Saleh (1920-1980) was among the earliest, most devoted champions of Egyptian folklore as a theorist, collector and creative agent. This memorial volume, edited by sociologist Mohamed El-Gohari, is more than simply an account of his life and work, however. Rather, it is a comprehensive record of the issues to which Saleh's 30-year career was devoted. The volume comprises four sections. The first, discussing Saleh's life and view of folklore, is written by El-Gohari, while the second, made up of 18 of Saleh's previously published but uncollected articles, provides valuable insight into the issues described in the first. The book's third and fourth sections comprise selections from Saleh's journalism and the testimonies of those who knew him or benefited from his work, respectively.

Ain Sariha wa Ain Mundahisha (A Wandering Eye, A Surprised Eye), Osama El-Dainasouri, Cairo: Miret for Publication and Information, 2003. pp67 Unlike Osama El-Dainasouri's last three collections of poetry, published as limited editions -- Harashif Al-Jaham (Woods of Distress, 1991), Mithlu Dhi'b A'ma (Like a Blind Wolf, 1996) and Ala Hai'at Wahid Shabahi (In the Shape of Someone like Me, 2001) -- this book is intended for wide distribution. Among the most distinctive voices in the area of prose poetry, El-Dainasouri started writing some ten years ago. These, his most recent poems, constitute a new departure in his writing: the poet is unashamedly confessional, unguardedly open and free from the devices that characterised his previous work. The poems nonetheless preserve the vernacular tone and the concern with daily life that are the most prominent features of the work of the so-called Generation of the Nineties, of which El-Dainasouri is a part.

Al-Nashid Al-Abadi (The Eternal Anthem), Hassan Al-Ghurafi, Cairo: Supreme Council of Culture, 2003. pp129 A biography of poet Amal Donqol published on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his death, this book by Moroccan critic Hassan Al-Ghurafi relies not only on the poet's work and on what has been written about him but also on the testimonies of Donqol's associates and the many interviews he conducted throughout his life. The book traces Donqol's journey from his home town in Upper Egypt through Alexandria and Suez and on to Cairo. With an emphasis on the origins and stimuli behind the poetry, the writer adopts a first-person narrative, which, in the form of an ongoing interview, tells the story of Donqol's short but highly charged life.

Fakihat Al-Khulafaa wa Mufakahat Al-Dhrafaa (The Caliphs' Fruit, Joking with Humerous Companions), Ahmed Ben Mohamed Arabshah, ed. Ragab El-Naggar, Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organisation (Dhakhair Series), 2003. pp601 In common with many historical books in Arabic that sought indirectly to criticise the powers that be, this book is written in the form of anecdotes and parables in which the protagonists are animals. The author, Ahmed Ben Mohamed Arabshah (1392-1450), suffered the consequences of the Mongol attacks on Baghdad, Damascus and Aleppo, witnessing Tamerlane's invasion of his birthplace, Damascus, at the age of 12 -- a fact that makes this book obliquely relevant to current events. He also lived in Cairo under the Mamluks, and besides his immense capacity for humour, the author displays plenty of political insight and human depth.

Bahjat Al-Ama (The Joy of Blindness), Yasser Ibrahim, Cairo: Miret for Publication and Information, 2003. pp152 This is Yasser Ibrahim's first novel, following two collections of short stories, Lahm Al-Hayy (Flesh and Blood, 1993) and Al-Taraf Al-Azraq minal-Tayf (The Blue Edge of the Shadow, 1996). In it, Ibrahim imagines through the figure of a blind man a different outlook on the world -- one in which senses other than sight, and especially the erotically oriented senses, occupy centre stage. The novel exposes the world of those who can see, probing their desires and fancies, and it narrates their relationships with their blind counterpart, whom they exploit and hate. This is a distinctive book that, to a greater extent than anything published by the author thus far, heralds the arrival of a distinctive new voice.

Hukumat Misr Abra Al-Usour (Egyptian Government through the Ages), Abdel-Azim Ramadan ed., Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organisation (History of the Egyptians Series), 2003. pp319 Intended as an outline of the governmental bodies that have ruled Egypt since ancient times, historian Abdel-Azim Ramadan's expertly conceived tome originates in a seminar conducted by the History Department of the Supreme Council of Culture three years ago. It contains three sections. In the first, Mohamed Ibrahim Bakr and Mustafa Kamal Abdel-Alim deal with Ancient and Hellenistic Egypt; in the second, Sayeda Ismail Kashef deals with Islamic Egypt, from the Arab Conquest until the fall of the Ikhshidi dynasty, with Ayman Fouad Sayed tackling the Fatimid age, Said Abdel-Fatah Ashour discussing the Ayyubids, and Rashida Ata and Hassan El-Basha summarising the Mamluk period. In the third section of the book, Abdel-Wahab Bakr, Yunan Labib Rizq, Raouf Abbas, Talaat Ismail Ramadan and Abdel-Azim Ramadan take the story from the Ottoman period and the French Expedition through to the British occupation, discussing military government from Orabi to Nasser.

Tis'a wa Tis'oun Hijaban (99 Veils), Amal Al-Jabouri, Beirut: Dar Al-Saqi, 2003. pp144 This is the fourth collection of poems by Iraqi poetess Amal Al-Jabouri, a resident of Germany. Al-Jabouri has also published Khamr Al-Jirah (The Wine of Wounds, 1986), I'tiqini Ayatuha Al-Kalimat (Set Me Free, Words, 1994), Lakina Hadha Al-Jasad La Khawf Alayy (Nothing to Fear, 1999), as well as a number of translations of poetry and theatre. The present book contains 99 poems, each of which deals, in typically expansive and emotionally intense fashion, with a particular "veil," Al-Jabouri's metaphor for her existence as an Arab woman away from home.