A Daughter of Isis The Autobiography of Nawal El Saadawi, 2nd ed.

by El Saadawi, Nawal; Aptheker, Bettina

• ISBN13: 9781848132313
• ISBN10: 184813231X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-15
• Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Summary

This is the first volume of the autobiography of Nawal El Saadawi, giving an emotionally shattering, but wonderfully lyrical, portrait of her childhood in a remote Egyptian village -- the childhood that produced the freedom fighter. She describes vividly the culture of the place and time into which she was born and also her intuitive -- and inspiring -- desire to transcend the restrictions forced upon her because of her gender. From the very start, escaping the grasp of possible marriage at the age of ten, we see how she moulded her own creative power into a weapon and how the use of words became an act of rebellion against injustice, leading first to her career as a medical doctor and ultimately to her iconic status as a novelist and political activist.

Author Biography

Nawal El Saadawi is a renowned Egyptian writer, novelist and activist. She has published over 40 books, which have been translated into over 30 languages.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface: The Gift	p. 1
Allah and McDonald's	p. 16
The Cry in the Night	p. 20
God Above, Husband Below	p. 31
Thank God for Our Calamities	p. 39
Flying with the Butterflies	p. 46
Killing the Bridegroom	p. 54
Daughter of the Sea	p. 63
My Revolutionary Father	p. 78
The Lost Servant-Girl	p. 88
The Village of Forgotten Employees	p. 94
God Hid behind the Coat-Stand	p. 101
The Ministry of Nauseation	p. 107
Dreaming of Pianos	p. 117
To the Circus	p. 124
The Singing Man	p. 139
The Whiskered Peasant	p. 153
Uncles, Suitors and Other Bloodsuckers	p. 165
A Stove for My Mother	p. 178
Coming to Cairo	p. 184
The Long, Strong Bones of a Horse	p. 199
Love and the Hideous Cat	p. 216
Art Thieves	p. 224
Mad Aunts and Abandoned Babies	p. 228
The House of Desolation	p. 241
The Secret Communist	p. 251
Wasted Lives	p. 267
Cholera, Ageing and Death	p. 284
The Qur'an Betrayed	p. 297
British English and Holy Arabic	p. 304
The Name of Marx	p. 329
The Brush of History	p. 344
Afterword: Living in Resistance	p. 350
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