زينة الحياة
(0)
By: Ahdaf Soueif
Genre: Short Stories
Publisher: Dar Al Hilal
Year: 1996
Further Reading
Related Articles
Scheherazade Tells All
By: Editor
By: Editor
I have always looked at life as though it were a novel
By: Michael March
By: Michael March
Upcoming Events
Online discussion of The Vegetarian by Han Kang Nobel Prize winner 2024
November 08, 2024
This discussion of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian...
Art Auction: Support Palestinian Families in Gaza
October 18 - 20, 2024
Join us on October 18th for Art for Aid, an online...
Book discussion:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 's Half of a Yellow Sun
September 28, 2024
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 's Half of a Yellow S...
Edward Said – Culture and Imperialism
July 27, 2024
Discussion of Edward Said's Culture and Imperi...
Admin - 4 years ago
من ارشيف تعليقات القراء 2006
name: Borhan Riah
The best of these stories belong to the world of mixed marriages and intersecting cultures, clearly the world where the author feels more at home. What is interesting is that millions of people in many countries belong to this world. In this sense, Ahdaf Soueif is a true representative of the culture of globalization.
name: Rita
Ahdaf Souief is a writer with vision, but I think she is more of a novelist than a short story writer. Her novel the map of love was a fantastic piece of work but these stories seem too long and are lacking in punch.
name: محمد عابد
أهداف سويف كاتبة مصرية موهوبة لكنها اختارت أن تعبر عن نفسها بالانجليزية وهي ظاهرة ليست جديدة بالنسبة للأدب المصري لكنها كانت أكثر انتشارا في مرحلة ما قبل ثورة 23 يوليو حيث كانت النخبة المصرية تتنتمي ثقافيا للحضارة الغربية وخاصة الفرنسية أما الاستاذة أهداف فهي تمثل الجيل الذي ترعرع في ظل الثورة ومن ثم فهي تمثل ظاهرة تستحق التأمل فهل يمكننا أن نعتبر أن أوضاع ما قبل 23 يوليو قد عادت لتستقر مرة أخرى؟ وأن ولاء النخبة الجديدة اتجه للغرب ثانية ؟؟؟؟
name: Ali Tal
Zeenat al-Hayat, a short story collection by Ahdaf Soueif, is a compelling psychological portrait of the author who emerges from these pages unintentionally detailed. The stories are idiosyncratic of an Arab woman between two worlds of divergent sexual morality. Through a series of narratives of closely observed spatial surroundings, Ahdaf Soueif attempts to tell an alternative but radical viewpoint of a woman falling out of love with her husband in the later part of twentieth century Egypt. The book interprets for us the dynamic vision of the whole business of self that inspired and motivated the author to write. However, the important political feminine questions ‘to what extent do sexual values determine who we are? and what, in particular, does sexuality mean to a woman’s existence?’ were skirted and left unanswered. Therefore, the stories remain an unfulfilled promise in the exploration of the philosophical feminine bias.
name:
مجموعة الكاتبة المتميزة أهداف سويف بها فكرة لكن للأسف الأسلوب ركيك مما أفقدني جزءا من متعة القراءة، وإن كنت لا آخذ هذا على الأديبة لكون المجموعة مترجمة عن الانجليزية ولم تكتب أصلا بالعربية، لكنني أتمنى أن تكون مجموعتها القادمة بلغة الضاد.
name: جاسم
قصة تحت التمرين مليئة بالايماءات الجنسية لكنها في مجملها غير مفهومة ، وان كانت الكاتبة على ما يبدو تريد ان تربط بين سياسة الانفتاح والاباحية الجنسية، والخلاصة في النهاية غير مقنعة لكنها بكل تأكيد مقلقة.
name: kk and FI
The book of Zenat al Hayat by Ahdaf Sweif includes a number of interesting stories which most likely describes in depth the emotions and problems that face some Egyptian women who might be described as upper class, according to the Egypt local standards, inside the country or abroad. The story of Al Sakhan (Boiler) is expressing in depth and sincerely the sexual deprivation of young people in our society due to reasons which we all know. By all measures the stories are very realistic and it seems that every piece represents a real situation. Indeed, I have read the book twice for two reasons. Firstly, I enjoyed every story. Secondly, the translation in many places is really not clear and I have to guess what the real meaning is. I can give many examples with page numbers but I feel that it is unnecessary. It seems to me in some parts of the book that translation is made by the computer regardless of the reader requirement. Nevertheless the book is a nice piece of work and I cannot find appropriate words to assess this elegant work better than which Mr. G. Asfour wrote as an introductory. Finally I would like to thank All members of Arab World Books Team (Email: webmaster@arabworldbooks.com) for their kind invitation to me, as book lover, to help in the task of nomination. I will contact you as soon as I can.