Gamal el-Ghitani (1945–2015)

Author of Zayni Barakat

47+ Works 250 Members 7 Reviews

About the Author

Gamal al-Ghitani was born in Guhayna, Egypt on May 9, 1945. He apprenticed to a carpet maker and studied Oriental carpet design at the College of Arts and Crafts. In 1969, he joined the staff of the newspaper Akhbar al-Youm and was a correspondent during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. In 1993, he show more founded Akhbar al-Adab, a leading literary magazine, and was its editor until 2011. He wrote several novels including The Zafarani Files, Pyramid Texts, The Book of Epiphanies, and The Book of Revelations. He also published The Mahfouz Dialogs, a collection of recorded conversations that the novelist Naguib Mahfouz had with friends over a half-century. In 2015, he received the Nile Award, Egypt's top literary state honor. He also received the French Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Egyptian National Prize for Literature, and the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for his novel Ren. He died as a result of heart and respiratory problems on October 18, 2015 at the age of 70. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Gamal Gitani, Gamal Ghitany, Gamal Ghitani, Gama al-Ghitani, Gamal al-Ghitani, Gamal al- Ghitani, Gamaal al-Ghitani, Al-ghitani Garnal, Gamaal al-Ghitani, Gamaal al- Ghitani, Jamāl Ghīṭānī, جمال الغيطاني, Ǧamāl al-Ġīṭānī

Image credit: Gamal al-Ghitany, 2014, by Moumou82 (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Works by Gamal el-Ghitani

Popular Recent

Zayni Barakat (1974) 86 copies

The Zafarani Files (1976) 41 copies

Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) (2000) 22 copies

The Cairo of Naguib Mahfouz (1999) 16 copies

The Mahfouz Dialogs (1711) 9 copies

Epitre des destinées (1989) 7 copies

The Book of Epiphanies: An Egyptian Novel (Modern Arabic Literature (Paperback)) (2005) 6 copies

ملامح القاهرة في ألف سنة 5 copies

رسالة في الصبابة والوجد 4 copies

الرفاعي 4 copies

كتاب التجليات :الأسفار الثلاثة 4 copies

ساعات 3 copies

كتاب الأسفار : أسفار المشتاق - أسفار الأسفار 3 copies

المجالس المحفوظية 2 copies

Chamado do Poente, O (2000) 2 copies

Trésors fatimides du Caire: Exposition présentée a l'Institut du monde arabe du 28 avril au 30 août 1998 (French… (1998) 2 copies

Madinah: City Stories from the Middle East (Comma City Stories) (2014) 2 copies

Awrāq shāb ʻāsha mundhu alf ʻām (1998) 2 copies

Les poussières de l'effacement: carnets V (2008) 2 copies

توفيق الحكيم يتذكر 1 copy

خطط الغيطاني 1 copy

منتهى الطلب إلى تراث العرب : دراسات في التراث 1 copy

مدينة الغرباء - مطالع نيويوركية 1 copy

نزول النقطة 1 copy

رسالة البصائر في المصائر 1 copy

ملامح القاهرة في ألف سنة malamih alqahrt fi 'alf sana (2015) 1 copy

هاتف المغيب 1 copy

من دفتر العشق والغربة 1 copy

كتاب الألم 1 copy

'inna: dafâtir al-tadwîn: al-daftar al-sâdis. al-'ân (ان دقاتر التدزين الدقتر السادس) 1 copy

kairo u 1000 godina (2007) 1 copy

Gunbatiminin Cagrisi 1 copy

A Drowsy Haze (in Words Without Borders - SCHNEE) 1 copy

al-Zawīl [الزويل] (2006) 1 copy

Re:Viewing Egypt: Image and Echo (2010) 1 copy

كتاب التجليات - Book of Revelations 1 copy

Les Délires de la ville (1999) 1 copy

Au plus pres de l'eternite (French Edition) 1 copy

La llamada de poniente / The call of the west (Spanish Edition) (2014) 1 copy

Barakat (1990) 1 copy

L'Appel du couchant (Cadre vert) (French Edition) (2000) 1 copy

As Narrativas da Instituição 1 copy

O Apelo do Poente 1 copy

Een geval van verdrinking en andere verhalen (1991) 1 copy

‏مقاصد الاسفار /&#٬٢٠٠ن؛ (2011) 1 copy

Malāmiḥ al-Qāhirah fī 1000 sanah (1997) 1 copy

سفر البنيان 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Words Without Borders: The World Through the Eyes of Writers: An Anthology (2007) — Contributor — 144 copies

The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction (2006) — Contributor — 102 copies

Under the Naked Sky: Short Stories from the Arab World (2000) — Contributor — 27 copies

Madinah: City Stories from the Middle East (2008) — Contributor — 6 copies

Schätze der Kalifen : islamische Kunst zur Fatimidenzeit : eine Ausstellung des Kunsthistorischen Museums Wien :… (1900) — Contributor — 5 copies

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: el-Ghitani, Gamal
Legal name: غيطاني, جمال
al-Ġīṭānī, Ǧamāl Aḥmad (Translit.)
Other names: Ġīṭānī, Ǧamāl al-
Ghīṭānī, Jamāl al-
Ghitany, Gamal
Ghitany, Gamal al-
Ghīṭānī, Jamāl Aḥmad al-
Ghīṭānī, Jamāl Ibn Aḥmad al-
Birthdate: 1945-05-09
Date of death: 2015-10-18
Gender: male
Nationality: Egypt
Birthplace: Guhaina, Egypt
Place of death: Cairo, Egypt
Places of residence: Cairo, Egypt
Occupations: Schriftsteller
Journalist
Novelist
Awards and honors: Al Owais Award (1997)

Members

Reviews

The Zafarani Files by Gamal al Ghitani

I gave up on this about a third of the way through in November 2018. It was insufficiently interesting and the female characters were just ravenous sex receptacles.

Flagged

annesadleir | 1 other review | Nov 9, 2018 |

Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic… by Gamal al-Ghitani

Random discovery in the used book section at the bookstore, and given my growing interests in Cairo and the pyramids, I had to pick it up.

A series of chapters that are really short stories but read like a novel - all linked by an obsession with or a dependence on the pyramids. Scholars, explorers, lovers, and climbers. What secrets are revealed to them about/through the pyramids?

This was lovely. Each chapter tended to be shorter and shorter, until the final chapters were more like poetry. Mystical and mysterious - a good find.… (more)

Flagged

greeniezona | 1 other review | Dec 6, 2017 |

The Zafarani Files: An Egyptian Novel (Modern Arabic… by Gamal al-Ghitani

Feel like a satirical romp in Cairo? This is the book. Just when the marvelous character descriptions of the folks living in Zafarani Alley were beginning to seem a bit tedious.....zing! Major plot development takes the story to a new level. Basically this is about a universe inside a universe inside a universe, all of which are consistently absurd, and which seem filled with more conflict than resolution....until the Sheikh shakes things up for all! Excellent read!

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hemlokgang | 1 other review | Jun 3, 2016 |

الزيني بركات by جمال الغيطاني

هناك اعمال ادبية لا تنسى ...هكذا هو تصنيفها

ببساطة لان اخر مرة تملكت فيها رواية "الزينى بركات" فى يدى فى ظل قاعة القراءة فى مكتبة عامة كان منذ 8 سنوات...فكيف تفسر اذا انى اذكر تفاصيلها بهذا الوضوح بينما اجاهد فى تذكر ذلك الكتاب الذى قرأته من 3 شهور

الزينى بركات رواية للزمن...تعاد تفاصيلها مرة تلو الاخرى من حولك فى دهشة للرأى...تذكرها ايام الثورة...تذكرها عند اقتحام امن الدولة..و اتذكرها الان

ربما السبب ان الغيطانى يثبت لك ان مصر هى سلسلة كاملة من الاحداث و اعادة الاحداث ...اننا لسنا وحدنا فى هذا الزمن و ان اشباح الماضى من شخصيات عانت مثلنا تماما مرت من هنا

و يمر على قول هيجل:"الحقيقة الوحيدة التي نتعلمها من التاريخ هي: ( ان لا احد يتعلم من التاريخ"! ....هكذا ببساطة

فكونك تقرأ "الزينى بركات" لا يزودك فقط بحبكة ادبية ممتعه او تلاعب رائع بالخطوط الدرامية ....بل يطمئنك ان هذا البلد كان دائما قادرا على دحر خصومة و ربما يمنحك الامل...او يجعلك تطلقها اخيرا: واضح ان مفيش فايدة من زمااان قوى
:D
… (more)

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Dina_Nabil | 1 other review | Mar 23, 2014 |

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