Sonallah Ibrahim

The Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim delivers in his notebook an insight into two of his novels, which are written in a rather documentary style, telling a personal story within a political system using excerpts from newspapers or speeches. One of the protagonists, Dhat, experiences suffering and tragedy in their life related to the political situation in her country. The other, Warda, dedicates her life to the liberation of humanity. Ibrahim, who is known for his radical views and his open critique for which he was imprisoned in Egypt during the 1960s, asks himself how he can escape contemporary Egyptian political and social life through his constructed characters. This notebook's point of departure confronts the post-1970s and -'80s Egyptian society with its changes in social justice and its devaluation of education and culture. In constructing a self-reflexive examination of his own work, Ibrahim explores gender roles in Arab society and suggests how the sense of hope for the future of Arab countries could be fulfilled through the actions of young women. Sonallah Ibrahim (*1937) is a novelist living in Cairo.