It is hoped that these beautifully designed reissues will engage a new generation of readers. Saadawi’s major works are classics of contemporary Middle Eastern literature. Her work has been internationally acclaimed, and she has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates and prizes. A vociferous political activist, Saadawi has been imprisoned in and exiled from Egypt, and put herself forward as a candidate for presidential election there in 2004. Her writing was inspired by her experiences of treating women in her medical practice. In defiance of cultural precepts which tended to exclude women from education, she was sent to school and later trained as a doctor. Nawal El Saadawi was born in 1931 in a small village outside Cairo. In Walking through Fire (2002), Saadawi relates her experiences as a young doctor, and considers wider questions of struggle and gender inequality through the prism of her personal relationships with three very different husbands.
Following on from the critical success of these novels, Saadawi wrote the first of two autobiographical works, A Daughter of Isis (1999), in which she describes the formative experiences of her early childhood, and her struggles as a political activist in Egypt. Overqualified for her mundane civil service job, Fouada views her personal predicament as being entwined with her professional ambitions – structurally held back by the prejudices of a patriarchal society, Fouada strives to achieve emotional fulfilment via professional recognition. In Searching (1991), Saadawi tells the tale of Fouada, whose search for a lost lover leads her into a labyrinth of existential torment and self-doubt. Hamida falls pregnant after being repeatedly sexually abused, whereupon her brother Hamido is charged by the family with the task of killing Hamida in order to defend the family’s honour. An uncomfortable examination of gendered power and violence, The Circling Song (1989) is a powerful novel about the complex relationship between Hamido and his twin sister Hamida. Her powerful stories of the lives of ordinary women in the Middle East remain as relevant today as when they were first published a quarter of a century ago. Praise for this Book ‘Her honesty, strength, courage, and accomplishments are admirable and inspiring.’ Library Journal ‘A moving repudiation of those who have made Egypt’s history in the last century.’ Washington Post Book World ‘Saadawi’s poetic prose and searing details keep the pages alive with stories of triumph, dissent, death, and disappointment.’ San Francisco ChronicleĪbout this Series N awa l E l S a a daw i ’s writing has the power to shock, move, inform and inspire.
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