At a glance

A shorthand guide to recent publications compiled by Mahmoud El-Wardani

---

Magazines

Wujhat Nazar, monthly review of books, issue no. 55, August 2003, Cairo: Egyptian Company for Arab and International Publication This month's issue of the prestigious review of books includes an article by American journalist Seymour Hersch, the first in a series to be published in collaboration with the New Yorker, dealing with Syria-Washington relations. The article reveals secrets about the Syrian regime's intelligence cooperation with the US, especially in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks. Editor Mohamed Hassanein Heikal also resumes his series of articles on the US- led war on Iraq, writing about Iraqi politicians and the links between the White House and the American military. Palestinian writer Azmi Bishara explores the possibility of "a Jewish democratic state", concentrating on the American bias against the Palestinians, as was clearly expressed in US President George W Bush's most recent address to Arab leaders in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. The issue also includes a profile, originally published in the British newspaper The Observer, of Nelson Mandela by journalist Anthony Sampson, critic Ragaa El-Naqqash's first contribution to Wujhat Nazar, an article on the historical links between Taha Hussein, Ahmed Shawqi and Naguib Mahfouz written on the occasion of the construction of statues representing the three authors in the Giza governorate in Cairo, and a chapter from Egyptian novelist Son'alla Ibrahim's latest novel, a work in progress entitled Amrikanli (American).

Al-Hilal, monthly magazine, issue no. 8, August 2003, Cairo: Dar Al-Hilal As if to complement Ahmed Fouad Selim's angry criticism of the three new statues erected in Giza of prominent Egyptian writers published in Wujhat Nazar, this issue of Al-Hilal opens with a similar attack on the statues. Elsewhere in the magazine, Mohamed Ragab El-Bayoumi deals with the chaos now besetting the cultural scene, Youssef Zeidan reports on a recent visit to the shrine of the great Sufi Ibn Arabi in Damascus, Ahmed Mohamed Saleh discusses "the marketing of religions on the Internet", Abdel-Rashid El-Mahmoudi takes stock of the contribution of the late Egyptian philosopher Zaki Naguib Mahmoud and Sherif Hatata draws connections between creativity and the philosophy of education. Poet Maged Youssef, who recently visited China as part of a television crew, contributes an exhaustive account of the trip.

Adab wa Naqd, monthly magazine, issue no. 216, August 2003, Cairo: Al-Tagamu' Party This issue's "Little Diwan", compiled by Talaat El-Shayeb, includes texts and fragments by Mohamed Mustagab. The issue's principal section is dedicated to the "secularism of belief", with articles by Maher El-Sherif, Kamal Abdel-Latif and Faisal Darrag. Soliman Shafiq contributes a report on a three-day seminar, held at the Alexandria Library, on liberation theology. The issue also resumes the magazine's ongoing attempts to redefine Marxism, with Ismail Sabri Abdalla writing on the Arab renaissance and Atef Ahmed discussing historical materialism and how Marxism turned into dogma. Musician Aziz El- Shawwan is the subject of another section, compiled by Ahmed El-Sherif on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his death, with contributions by Samha El- Kholi, Hanan Abul-Magd and Rasha Tamoum. The issue includes the usual monthly instalment of short stories, poems and literary texts.

Sutour, monthly magazine, issue no. 81, August 2003, Cairo: Sutour Publications The main section of the most recent issue of Sutour is dedicated to money, with contributions from Karim Abdel-Salam, Mesbah Qutb, Abdel-Khaleq Farouk, Azzazi Ali Azzazi and many others on a range of topics from bribery and begging to global economic transformations. The magazine also publishes translations of articles indicting London and Washington, respectively, on the recent suicide of British weapons expert David Kelly and on the Liberian Civil War, as well as a report on Arab-Islamic activism within the US. Abdel-Razeq Okasha profiles three Mozambiquan musicians, while Nasser Iraq discusses banknote design in a variety of nations, and Ashraf Abul-Yazid takes stock of the use of T-shirts as advertising and propaganda aids.

Nour, quarterly review of books, August 2003, Cairo: Nour Institution for Arab Woman's Study and Research Edited by Shahira El-Baz, the latest issue of this woman's review of books is almost wholly devoted to "the Arab woman and globalisation", a topic discussed from a variety of angles, from the World Trade Organisation's possible discrimination against women, to the implications for Arab women of American hegemony. The sociological section is notable in that it includes three major studies on the effects of recent global economic developments on the Arab family and on female education in the light of globalisation. Globalisation and democracy and globalisation and civil society are two of the issues touched on in the political section, which also includes reports on the woman's movement in Morocco by Rabi'a El-Nasiri and Amina El-Merini. Alongside numerous reviews of books on related topics, Eilin Kattab compares the 1987 and 2000 Palestinian Intifadas.

Fikrun wa Fann, biannual magazine, issue no. 77, 2003, Cairo: Goethe Institute In this issue the Goethe Institute magazine, devoted to Arab- German cultural exchange, supplies an overview of war and its effects on humanity since the dawn of history, written on the occasion of the US-led war on Iraq. Historical and literary texts ranging in date from pre-historic times to the World War II and beyond are juxtaposed with reports on the use of "smart bombs" by US forces in Afghanistan and on the conflict between Berlin and Washington on the US-led war on Iraq. Indian novelist Arundhati Roy contributes an angry article on the marketing of war, Elias Cannetti a meditative essay on the role of the writer in wartime, the Jewish Iraqi writer Mona Yehya a chapter from her latest novel and an Iranian expatriate writer based in Germany, appearing under the single name of Said, extracts from his diary.

Siyasat Al-Adyan (The Politics of Religion), Nabil Abdel- Fattah, Cairo: Miret for Publication and Information, 2003. pp695

The 11 September 2001 attacks revealed a radical Islamist plan to transform international relations through undermining American hegemony: this is the author's principal justification for his view of the role of religion as a recent and significant force in world politics, about which theoretical and academic discourse has remained limited. This book attempts to fill the resulting gap by drawing up a typology of the role of religion in globalisation, and in international relations, and the challenges recent developments pose to Islam. It seeks to explore the connections between Islam, modernisation and democracy, incorporating assessments of the actions of Islamist organisations. The author concludes with a statement of the necessity of reforming Islamic institutions, with a view to confronting the challenges to which 11 September has given birth.

Hukumaat Misr Abra Al-Usour (Egyptian Government Through the Ages), ed Abdel-Azim Ramadan, Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organisation (Egyptians' History Series), 2003. pp319

This book contains the proceedings of a symposium held at the History and Monuments Commission of the Supreme Council of Culture three years ago. Papers submitted by well-known academics on the subject of developments in Egyptian government are presented here in three sections. The first deals with Egyptian government in prehistoric times, the second with the various Islamic dynasties, and the third and largest with the modern era. Taken as a whole, the book is an effective demonstration of the claim that Egypt has the oldest tradition of government in the world, and the specialists provide thorough accounts and exciting insights into their respective topics.

Books

Tahta Samaain Okhra (Under a Different Sky), Mohamed Soliman, Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces (Voices Series), 2003. pp85 Mohamed Soliman is an original and significant voice in contemporary prose poetry, even though he started writing at the end of the 1960s, publishing a number of books including taf'ila poems. In this, his latest collection of poems, he presents texts written in Cairo, Chicago and Iowa during the period 1995-97, the poems being full of allusions to Whitman, Hemingway, Henry Miller, Allen Ginsberg and others. "The postman did not come at Eid," Soliman writes, "carrying friends' faces. The postman did not come with his sack, did not stand clapping. The postman has turned into a screen, a machine searching the air like a detective. Perhaps the postman will not share my tea tomorrow. He will not tell the neighbours that I have family and friends elsewhere, or a country. Can machinery bear the colour of my joy and my longing?"

Madareb Al-Ahwaa (In Pursuit of Longing), Edwar El-Kharrat, Cairo: Al-Bustani for Publication and Distribution, 2003. pp163 This is Edwar El-Kharrat's sixth collection of short stories, and the latest of many books. Yet his 14 novels notwithstanding, El- Kharrat demonstrates in this book that he is still capable of contributing new stylistic insights and literary accomplishments. Most significantly, El-Kharrat continues to experiment, displaying all his skill and familiarity with the language. What is interesting about this book is that El-Kharrat puts forth two different literary propositions: on the one hand he offers excellent examples of the conventional short story, dealing with popular neighbourhoods and marginalised, ingenuous people; on the other, he offers developments in his ongoing project of writing "inner texts", short stories that, like his novels, meditate on existence, death and the life of the psyche.

Al-Wuswas Al-Qahri min Manzour Arabi Islami (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders from an Arab-Muslim Perspective), Wael Abu Hindi, Kuwait: Ministry of Information (Alam Al-Ma'rifa Series), pp525 The publisher of this book indicates that, despite there being an estimated six million Arabs who suffer from obsessive-compulsive psychological disorders, this is the first book in Arabic on the problem. An exhaustive exposition of the causes and symptoms of the disorder, the book also discusses its dynamics in specific contexts, stressing the differences between this psychological disorder and demonic possession (the same Arabic word, wuswas, is used to denote both evils) in the hope of raising levels of awareness and facilitating treatment. Offering 39 case studies, the book also delineates Arab contributions to the study and treatment of the disorders.

Al-Ideologiya wal-Qudban: Nahw Ansanat Al-Fikr Al- Qawmi Al-Arabi (Ideology Behind Bars: Towards Humanising Nationalist Arab Thought), Hani Nesira, Cairo: Cairo Centre for Human Rights (Intellectual Initiatives Series), 2003. pp164 In his introduction to this book the author points to what he sees as the failure of nationalist Arab ideology to fulfil its promises -- including the liberation of Palestine, the establishment of a pan-Arab state and the reign of socialism -- and to the many crises that have beset it, including the separation of Egypt and Syria in 1960, the defeat of 1967 and the second Gulf crisis of 1990. He seeks to approach nationalist discourse through a rereading of its essential precepts, as well as an assessment of attempts at renewing it and of the experience of nationalist rule in Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Nationalist ideology, the author finds, has largely acted to justify oppression, undemocratic practices and the suffocation of civil society, and in doing so it has outweighed its positive contribution to politics in these states. The author's principal hope is that differences will now be taken account of, since in his view it is only through the redrafting of this ideology in a more democratic, pluralistic way that Arabs will be able to reap its benefits.

Maqatel Al-Talibin (The Murders of Those Who Ask), Abul-Faraj Al-Asfahani, ed El-Sayed Ahmed Saqr, Cairo: General Organisation for Cultural Palaces (Dhakha'ir Series), 2003. pp851, two volumes This is a unique document in the Arab literary heritage, representing a peculiar form of historical writing. Its professed objective is to document and investigate the death of those relations of the Prophet who died for the sake of their principles, starting with Imam Ali and reaching Abdel-Rahman Ibn Mohamed Ibn Eisa Ibn Ga'far Ibn Ibrahim, who died during the rule of the Abbasid Dynasty some 300 years later. This is a major dramatic epic, in which several hundred descendants of the Prophet were killed, while others were persecuted, tortured and oppressed. Abul-Faraj Al-Asfahani is also the author of the most important historical Arab encyclopaedia, Al-Aghani.

Al-Mar'a Al-Arabiya wal-Mutaghiyrat Al- Alamiya (The Arab Woman and International Variables), ed Nawal El-Saadawi, Cairo: Miret for Publication and Information, 2003. pp245 This book contains papers submitted at the Sixth International Conference of the Arab Woman's Solidarity Association, held in Cairo on 3-5 January last year. Writers such as Dalal El-Bazri, Sherif Hatata and Hakima El-Shawi discuss topics including violence and authority in male- female relations, the effects on women of the switch to a free-market economy and the "feminisation of poverty" in the context of globalisation. Testimonies given at the conference by Mona Helmi, Nagwa Shaaban, Hakima El- Shawi are also included. The reports of dialogue and informal discussions at the conference make for a more eclectic book, but one cannot help wondering if it would not have benefited from firmer editorial control.