The Undergraduate Research Journal
Abstract
In her creative writings Farida Ahmad (1939-2018), an Egyptian woman writer and journalist excluded from the Arabic literary canon, subtly presents a different narrative about the leftist movement in the seventies and eighties. This research argues that Ahmad’s works, which present that women’s liberation and nation’s liberation are different, faced structural marginalization. She presents that in her novella, Akhāfu ʻalayka Minnī, using the relationship dynamics between two intellectual leftist activists, Mustafa and Nadia. Mustafa marginalizes Nadia from the political sphere through his patronizing attitude. Moreover, he utilizes the sexual (nation) liberation rhetoric and conservative rhetoric to convince Nadia to be his concubine. This research examines Nadia’s work in an attempt to create an inclusive vision of her work and life. This research speaks in dialogue with the feminist approach to the structural formation of the literary canon, especially in Arabic literature. It does not attempt to generalize how the Arabic canon is formed, but rather investigates the reasons why a leftist woman’s fictional narrative exists in the periphery even in the leftist production of literature.
Document Type
Essay
Department
Arab & Islamic Civilizations Department
Recommended Citation
Azmy, Sylvia
(2023)
"A Forgotten Woman Writer: Representations of Women in Faridah Ahmad’s Creative Writings,"
The Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 9, Article 7.
Available at:
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/urje/vol9/iss1/7
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval
Not necessary for this item
Included in
Arabic Language and Literature Commons, Arabic Studies Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Women's Studies Commons