In the Shadows of the Middle East’s Wars, Oil, and Peace: the Construction of Female Desires and Lesbianism in Middlebrow Egyptian Literature
In: Journal of Arabic LiteratureSearch for other papers by Hanan Hammad in
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Abstract
This article employs the fictional writings of the Egyptian author Iḥsān ‘Abd al-Quddūs (1919–1990) to analyze the textually tangled anxiety over women’s sexuality and rapid political and socioeconomic changes in postcolonial Egypt and the Arab-East. Arguably one of the most prolific writers in Arabic in the twentieth century, ‘Abd al-Quddūs has achieved wide readership, and producers have adapted his books to popular commercial films and TV shows. Breaking taboos on women’s sexual desires, ‘Abd al-Quddūs’s work has been influential in shaping the popular notion about lesbian love wherein frustration with the postcolonial realities—inscribed by the Arab-Israeli conflict, Oil Boom, and globalization—have become entangled with the fear of women’s mobility and liberation.
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In the Shadows of the Middle East’s Wars, Oil, and Peace: the Construction of Female Desires and Lesbianism in Middlebrow Egyptian Literature
In: Journal of Arabic LiteratureSearch for other papers by Hanan Hammad in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article employs the fictional writings of the Egyptian author Iḥsān ‘Abd al-Quddūs (1919–1990) to analyze the textually tangled anxiety over women’s sexuality and rapid political and socioeconomic changes in postcolonial Egypt and the Arab-East. Arguably one of the most prolific writers in Arabic in the twentieth century, ‘Abd al-Quddūs has achieved wide readership, and producers have adapted his books to popular commercial films and TV shows. Breaking taboos on women’s sexual desires, ‘Abd al-Quddūs’s work has been influential in shaping the popular notion about lesbian love wherein frustration with the postcolonial realities—inscribed by the Arab-Israeli conflict, Oil Boom, and globalization—have become entangled with the fear of women’s mobility and liberation.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 562 | 75 | 11 |
| Full Text Views | 110 | 15 | 5 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 136 | 17 | 4 |