Context as the Text Determinant: A Comparative study of Wollstonecraft and El Saadawi’s Socio-Political Backgrounds

Abstract

The current paper considers, for the first time, the most controversial feminist writers, in both the West and the East, the British Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and the Egyptian Nawal El Saadawi (1931-2021 ) from a feminist comparative perspective. Choosing these two authors is due to their lasting contributions to the development of feminism in their respective societies. This study is undertaken to shed light on the most salient socio-political circumstances that have prompted the considered authors to write in a strikingly similar way despite the fact that they come from very dissimilar cultures, religions and epochs. The present paper, principally by employing theories of the American school of comparative literature, attempts to vividly manifest how Wollstonecraft and El Saadawi, through their writings, have shared with the reader their own experiences and sufferings to give an authentic example of women’s misery in general. Such findings reveal that the integration of the authors’ personal experiences with their theories enriches their works with conviction and passion, while the French Revolution in the West and the resistance of the British colonizer in many Eastern countries have been vital determinants in the way Wollstonecraft and El Saadawi have written their novels, namely The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria (1798) and Women at Point Zero (1973).