Scheherazade Goes West : Different Cultures, Different Harems

by Fatema Mernissi

• ISBN13: 9780743412421
• ISBN10: 0743412427
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-05-22
• Publisher: Washington Square Press

Summary

Fatema Mernissi, the world-renowned Islamic feminist, has shed unprecedented light on the lives of women in the Middle East, in works hailed as "enchanting" "(The New York Times Book Review)," "exuberant" "(Elle)," and "remarkable" "(The Washington Post Book World)." Now, in "Scheherazade Goes West," Mernissi reveals her unique experiences as a liberated, independent Moroccan woman faced with the peculiarities and unexpected encroachments of Western culture. Her often surprising discoveries about the conditions of and attitudes toward women around the world -- and the exquisitely embroidered amalgam of clear-eyed autobiography and dazzling meta-fiction by which she relates those assorted discoveries -- add up to a deliciously wry, engagingly cosmopolitan, and deeply penetrating narrative.

Author Biography

Fatema Mernissi is a professor of sociology at the University of Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco. An Islamic feminist whose books have been published in twenty-six countries, she is the bestselling author of Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood, The Veil and the Male Elite, and Beyond the Veil.

Table of Contents

The Tale of the Lady with the Feather Dress	1	(11)
Sex in the Western Harem	11	(18)
On the Western Harem Front	29	(14)
The Mind as Erotic Weapon	43	(18)
Scheherazade Goes West	61	(18)
Intelligence VersusBeauty	79	(19)
Jacques's Harem: Unveiled but Silent Beauties	98	(19)
My Harem: Harun Ar-Rachid, the Sexy Caliph	117	(13)
The Majliss: Pleasure as Sacred Ritual	130	(16)
In the Intimacy of a European Harem: Monsieur Ingres	146	(21)
Aggressive Shirin Hunts for Love	167	(22)
Princess Nur-Jahan Chases Tigers	189	(19)
Size 6: The Western Women's Harem	208	(13)
Index	221