A01=Sonallah Ibrahim
Absurdist fiction
Absurdity of governance
Author_Sonallah Ibrahim
Authoritarianism
Bureaucracy
Category=FBA
Challenging fiction
Cultural criticism
Dark satire
Egyptian literature
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
Experimental fiction
fiction
Individual vs. system
Institutional abuse
Intellectual fiction
Kafkaesque fiction
Literary dystopia
Literature and politics
literature in translation
Middle East studies
Modern Arabic studies
Political allegory
Political allegory novel
Political dissent in literature
political fiction of the Arab World
Postcolonial literature
Postmodern literature
Power and control
Social commentary
State surveillance
Thought-provoking novel
Totalitarian society
Product details
- ISBN 9780815607267
- Weight: 257g
- Dimensions: 140 x 187mm
- Publication Date: 01 Nov 2001
- Publisher: Syracuse University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
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.
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.
Sonallah Ibrahim is an Egyptian novelist and a major literary figure in the Arab world. He has written many novels, including the oft-translated The Smell of It.
Mary St. Germain is head of the Near East Section at the University of Washington libraries.
Charlene Constable studied Arabic at the University of Washington and has traveled to Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.
Mary St. Germain is head of the Near East Section at the University of Washington libraries.
Charlene Constable studied Arabic at the University of Washington and has traveled to Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.
