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A Daughter of Isis: The Autobiography of Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi has been pilloried, censored, imprisoned and exiled for her refusal to accept the oppressions imposed on women by gender and class. In her life and in her writings, this struggle against sexual discrimination has always been linked to a struggle against all forms of oppression: religious, racial, colonial and neo-colonial. In 1969, she published her first
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Paperback
,
320 pages
Published
July 30th 1999
by Zed Books
(first published 1999)
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I would like to write a long and beautiful review of this book, but as usual I dont have too much time. I am writing a disertation and I try to use some free time to read another books to clean my mind. I just encourage to everybody to read this book, written with an agile and clear prose, full of poetry and beauty.Nawal El Saadawi is a strong character, a powerful woman who fought agaisnt lot of prejudices in Egypt in her childhood and youth and she tell things without patronize, plainly and ob
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How Nawal El Saadawi managed to emancipate herself from the misogynic constraints she grew up with is impressive and inspiring, therefore I enjoyed reading her autobiography. However, I`m not sure about her style - sometimes it felt so flowery, repetitive and verbose that I found it distracting.
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I read this over the summer when Nawal was coming to Springfield for a lecture. I missed the lecture but the story of her life is incredible. This is an awe-inspiring look at the life of a young Egyptian woman in a strict male-dominated society. The focus is on her early years, does not touch much on her activism and political work for women in her homeland, but you definitely get to know her by the end of the book.
This book has stayed with me for years. It is an intense picture into the life of a woman who was both suppressed and inspired by her native culture.
She brings insight into the cultural and religious life of her countrymen without vitriol or anger. She also highlights the plight of women worldwide who are still suppressed and abused by the culture into which they are born.
She brings insight into the cultural and religious life of her countrymen without vitriol or anger. She also highlights the plight of women worldwide who are still suppressed and abused by the culture into which they are born.
Pretty standard autiobiography, I'm really just giving it megaprops because this lady is so cool. If you haven't read her book
Woman At Point Zero
, do it immediately (triggering though)
If Nawal El Saadawi was a man, she'd be much more world famous. If you don't know about her, learn about her. She's grand.
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Nawal El Saadawi (Arabic:
نوال السعداوي
) was born in 1931, in a small village outside Cairo. Unusually, she and her brothers and sisters were educated together, and she graduated from the University of Cairo Medical School in 1955, specializing in psychiatry. For two years, she practiced as a medical doctor, both at the university and in her native Tahla.
From 1963 until 1972, Saadawi worked as Dir ...more
More about Nawal El-Saadawi...
From 1963 until 1972, Saadawi worked as Dir ...more
“Memory is never complete. There are always parts of it that time has amputated. Writing is a way of retrieving them, of bringing the missing parts back to it, of making it more holistic.”
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