Out el Kouloub achieves a modest success by importing some of the
feel of an 18th-century British novel into her rendering of harem
life in traditional Egypt. Egypt's Out el Kouloub based Rarnza,
written and published in French in 1958, on her own harem
experience, and she portrays these forbidden women's quarters in
Middle Eastern households in all their paradox. Sequestered from
the outside world, the harem women create their own exclusive world
where oral culture thrives: They exchange stories to entertain,
console, and bond with one another. Ramza, the novel's heroine,
breaks both male and female norms by venturing into her father's
study (in the men's part of the house) where she learns to read and
write. Although time is unspecified, the novel is set in the era of
British influence over Egypt (1882-1952), and Ramza's education is
distinctly European. Influenced by John Stuart Mill's The
Subjection of Women and Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, Ramza, not
surprisingly, grows into a young woman of surging independence who
is constantly threatened by the undertow of her powerful emotions.
After the death of her bridegroom on the eve of an arranged
marriage, Ramza falls in love with Maher. Forbidden by her father
from marrying Maher because of his social status, Ramza resolves to
escape the harem and elope. Her pursuit of desire and fulfillment
at all costs gives her an appealing intensity, but Out el Kouloub
(Khul-Khaal, not reviewed) often mars the characterization with
melodrama. During Maher and Ramza's assignation in a Bedouin tent
one can almost hear "Midnight at the Oasis" wafting through the
flaps: "Maher pulled me into his arms and his lips touched mine. At
that moment I felt I was committing the greatest folly of my life,
but I could not stop myself." Unique by virtue of its subject and
resourceful treatment, not the author's craft. (Kirkus Reviews)
This novel of the harem, originally published in 1958, is a
dramatisation of a piece of Egyptian feminine and feminist history.
Set at the turn of the century, when Egyptian women were struggling
to come forward, it tells the story of life behind the veil and of
one woman's rebellion against it.
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