Gender, Nation, and the Arabic Novel

Abstract

A nuanced understanding of literary imaginings of masculinity and femininity in the Egyptian novel Gender studies in Arabic literature have become equated with women's writing, leaving aside the possibility of a radical rethinking of the Arabic literary canon and Arab cultural history. While the 'woman question' in the Arabic novel has received considerable attention, the 'male question' has gone largely unnoticed. Now, Hoda Elsadda bucks that trend. Foregrounding voices that have been marginalised alongside canonical works, she engages with new directions in the novel tradition. Sheds new light on key debates, including: The project of nation-building in the modern period The process of inclusion and exclusion in canon formation The geopolitics of definitions of national or cultural identity in the global world The conceptual discourses on gender and nation The meaning of national identity in a global context