The Committee - A Novel (Hardcover, 1st ed)

In this disturbing allegorical novel (first published in 1981), the acclaimed Egyptian author who seems poised to inherit the mantle of Naguib Mahfouz traces a nameless narrator's victimization by an indistinct judicial authority known only as "the committee." An arrest for unspecified crimes is followed by sexual humiliation, then a directive that the narrator (a writer and scholar) research the life and works of an Arab "luminary" materially involved in Anwar Sadat's "globalization" efforts, and finally an act of violence to which he is driven by continuing "official" disapproval and round-the-clock surveillance. This eerie updating of Kafka's classic fable The Trial possesses both uncanny contemporary relevance and, in its surreal climax and denouement, tremendous narrative and symbolic force. (Kirkus Reviews)

Writing in an intriguingly symbolic and minimalist style, author Sonallah Ibrahim has been called the Egyptian Kafka. And no wonder. This wry take on Kafka's The Trial revolves around its narrator's attempts to petition successfully the elusive ruling body of his country, known simply as "the committee". Consequences for his actions range from the absurd to the hideous.

In Kafkaesque fashion, Ibrahim offers an unbroken first-person narrative rendered in brief, crisp prose framed by a conspicuous absence of vivid imagery. Furthermore, the petitioner is a man without identity. The ideal anti-hero, he remains, as does his country, unnamed throughout the intricate plot with a locale suggestive of 1970s Cairo.

Considered a major work, The Committee sardonically pierces the inflammatory terrain between ordinary men, unbridled displays of power, and other, broader concerns of the author's native Egypt. The novel's corrosive, shocking conclusion catapults satiric surrealism into a new realm.

General

Imprint:	Syracuse University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Middle East Literature In Translation
Release date:	November 2001
First published:	November 2001
Authors:	Sonallah Ibrahim
Dimensions:	187 x 140 x 19mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	166
Edition:	1st ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-8156-0726-7
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction Promotions
LSN:	0-8156-0726-1
Barcode:	9780815607267

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