WATANI International
12 July 2009
Ancient Egyptian leaders
The series Qadat Misr al-Faraoniya (Leader of Pharaonic Egypt) presents the civilisation of ancient Egypt through its historical rulers and leaders from Senefru through Hatshepsut, Tutankhamun, Ahmose, Ramesses II to Cleopatra. The series is compiled and published by Elias.
Nile questions
The River Nile is pivotal for Egypt’s survival, yet many people did not give much thought to its significance; they readily pour pollutants into it and waste the water. In his new collection, Al-Nil Yas’al an Walifatuh (The Nile Asks about His Mate), renowned poet Farouq Shousha reflects on the ‘suffering and pain’ of the River Nile, issues that have resulted in problems that have a direct effect on the Egyptian people. He stresses that the problems we are creating today will be paid for by our children. The collection of poems is published by the Egyptian-Lebanese House.
Marginalised in history
Ru’ya Publishing House recently brought out a new book entitled Al-Muhhamashoon fil Tarikh al-Misri (The Marginalised in Egyptian History) by Mohamed Ismail. This new book tells stories of the struggles of the Egyptian people throughout the periods of their history, pointing especially to the role of certain marginalised people who yet played an effective role in their time and helped form Egypt’s civilisation.
Mind and spirit crises
Ayyam Hayatina (Days of our Life) is a new novel by Tawfiq Abdel-Rahman in which the author weaves together the public and political events of the Egyptian scene into the life stories of his characters. He creates a pattern that features the close interconnection between the public and the private. Rahman believes that an alliance of social, political and economic factors peculiar to Egypt lead to crises of mind and soul that depress Egyptians and increase their agony. Days of our Life is published by Bustani Publishing House.
Woman as storyteller
A new title by al-Ain House is Al-Mar’a Wal Haddouta—Dirasa fil-Ebdaa al-Heka’i al-Shaabi Lil Mar’a al-Misrya (Women and Narrative—A Study of the Folkloric Creative Narration of the Egyptian Woman) by Khaled Abul-Lail. In his introduction, Ahmed Mursi expresses pride that Lail was one of his students. He explains that Lail intended to conduct a research on story-telling by Egyptian women, especially mothers. In so doing he attempts to deny a male monopoly over literature. Lail depended on a study proving that some 90 per cent of Egyptian women knew some folk tales by heart.
The two comprehensive parts of the book represent a detailed and scientific study of folk stories, their artistic characteristics, interviews with male and female narrators, and some stories that formed part of the author’s MA thesis at Cairo University. The stories are written in colloquial Arabic with some expert informative notifications that offer a background on the origins of each story, its first narrator, and the time and the region when and where it was first told.
Odysseus’s messages
A new poetry collection, Messages From Odysseus, has hit the bookshops from the Arab Horizons series of publications for the General Authority of Cultural Palaces. The collection comprises more than 50 poems by Nuri al-Garrah selected from six collections published between 1986 and 2004. Among the poems are Rays, Gardens of Hamlet, It Happened Tomorrow, The Sleeper’s Smile, and The Melody of Coming Back From The Cave.
Garrah, who was born in Damascus in 1956, writes his poem The Melody of Osiris:
“I delay myself one step and look at my days
As they rush to greet you.
My days write to you,
While my eyes retreat,
Who is this person? The one you knew?”
.
Belonging to Mother Nature
The General Egyptian Book Organisation recently issued a new series for children under the title Hayya Nantamy (Let’s Belong). Abdel-Tawwab Youssef has written two books in the series, while the illustrations are by Adel al-Tabari. The books are games of identification of objects, animals and birds to teach children the precise use and pronunciation of the names and words.
The series mainly uses the animals, and sometimes things we commonly use such as the knife, the glasses, and the stamps, as heroes. The sun, birds and insects also play effective roles. At the end of each story, the writer asks a question related to the drawings.
Portraits
Two new collections by the novelist and poet Khairi Shalabi have been published by Ain Publishing House. The new books are entitled Anaqeed al-Nour (Clusters of Light) and Burg al-Balabel (The Nightingales’ Tower). Clusters of Light includes 21 portraits of such prominent people as Saad Zaghloul, Hoda Sharawi, Gorgy Zidan, Jibran Khalil Jibran, Qassem Amin and Youssef Idries.
Shalabi says that the portraits are not critical articles and not historical biographies but an analytical perspective to each character in order to make use of it as a model.
In passing
Poet and author Samir Darwish has published 17 volumes since 1991. His most recent bears the title Min Agl Imra’a Abira (For the Sake of A Passing Woman), and is published as part of its Literary Sounds Series by the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces. The collection consists of 96 pages and consists of poems written between 2002 and 2005.
Darwish selected the titles of the poems to give a sense of reality and live situations. He addresses people with their real names and to transfer experiences as they actually occurred with him. He makes use of verses from the Qur’an and words from folklore. Among the most memorable poems in the new collection are The Underground, Ras al-Barr, Luxor, The Basement, Tahrir Square and The Highway.