خارطة الكتابة: حوار مع أهداف سويف / The Map of Writing: An Interview with Ahdaf Soueif

Program

ALIF

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/521963

All Authors

محرز, سامية; Mehrez, Samia; سويف, أهداف; Soueif, Ahdaf

Document Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics

Publication Date

2000

doi

https://www.doi.org/10.2307/521963

Abstract

[After introducing the works of Ahdaf Soueif, her background, and critical response to her novels, Mehrez raises questions on Anglophone writing with the author. The following are excerpts from Soueif's answers: "The first language in which I read was English. My introduction to written stories was in English." "I have truly not considered my reader till after the publication of In the Eye of the Sun... its reception in the Arab World and in the West and how people reacted to it." "I imagine that one can explain or interpret The Map of Love as being a more accentuated awareness of my position as an Egyptian writer writing in English and addressing the Western reader to tell him our story with them from our point of view-an Egyptian Arab one." "A quick glance at the world situation will suffice to show that we remain in the throes of certain kinds of colonialisms that have more effective power and are certainly an extention of older forms." "A number of critics have written about an innovative aspect of my work that has to do with my use of the English language to relay an Arab context." "The Arabic language... is my first and principle language. Consequently, I cannot allow the appearance of a "translation" of my work into Arabic. Rather, I feel the need to Arabize it, to rewrite it myself." "The nomination to the Booker Prize... for a writer like myself, coming to the English language from the outside without belonging to its literary history is a recognition of considerable importance."]

First Page

168

Last Page

185

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