Zaat
by Ṣunʻ Allāh Ibrāhīm
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Description
This unusual and much lauded novel tells the story of the life of an Egyptian woman--the eponymous Zaat--during the regimes of three Egyptian presidents: Abdel Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak. Imbued with an Egyptian sense of humor and deeply rooted in the culture and politics of the modern period, the novel takes a humorous but often black look at the changes that have occurred in Egypt over the past few decades. Zaat's life experiences and relationships are set against economic and social show more upheavals in a style that is both sophisticated and bawdy, highly ironic and often extremely poignant.Zaat's story is interspersed and illustrated with extracts from newspapers of the day--headlines, articles, captions, death notices, advertisements--reflecting events and incidents contemporary with her life. Beautifully put together with bitter and cutting irony, they tell of corruption, financial scandals, torture, foreign debt, and social problems. The heroine epitomizes the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of simple folk tossed about on the stormy sea of modernization, consumerism, and the ever-present mirage of new wealth. Zaat is a brilliant social commentary that provides keen insights into how Egypt has come to be the way it is today. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is the story of an Egyptian woman--her life, family and friends--who lived through the reigns of Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, and Mubarak. She is a humorous character, and her adventures and misadventures are amusing. In alternating sections, snippets of newspaper accounts that appeared over the course of the time period covered by this novel are included. Both Zaat's story and the newspaper articles convey the corruption and ineptitude of the powers that be in Egypt over this time period.
Une grande nouveauté, dans la littérature égyptienne. Rafraîchissant.
Sep 21, 2009French
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The 10 Best Arabic Novels Ever
10 works; 1 member
Author Information
31+ Works 447 Members
Awards and Honors
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Common Knowledge
- Alternate titles
- The Smell of It & Other Stories
- Original publication date
- 1992
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 892.736 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages Afro-Asiatic literatures Arabic (Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan) Arabic fiction 1945–2000
- LCC
- PJ7838 .B7173 .D43 — Language and Literature Oriental languages and literatures Oriental philology and literature Arabic Arabic literature Individual authors or works
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 99
- Popularity
- 324,479
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- 5 — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Italian
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 1
