Novel
The House of Jasmine
بيت الياسمين
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid · 1987
Synopsis
Shagara, an employee of a shipyard in Alexandria, tells his own story. Charged with paying the workers to go and applaud Sadat's policy during Nixon's visit in 1974, he keeps half of the money. Promoted to the head of the union, he would like to marry, but remains lost in a fog, alone despite his three café companions, Abd al-Salam, Hassanayn and Magid. In January 1977, he finds himself almost by chance in the middle of the bread riots. A villa surrounded by jasmine haunts the narrative.
Context
The novel was published in 1987 (in 1986 according to ArabLit, in 1984 according to World Literature Today). The American president's trip, the Camp David accords and the riots of 1977 form its historical backdrop, ArabLit recalls. World Literature Today reads it as a love letter to Alexandria, and the English publisher as an accusatory testimony on the period. Nachoua al-Azhari translated it into French for Actes Sud in 2000, under the title La Maison aux jasmins; Noha Radwan produced an English version in 2012.
Who it is for
A short novel, about one hundred and sixty pages in French, narrated in the first person; also translated into English.
Prizes and reception
According to ArabLit, a book of humanity in which every reader can recognise their own fogs, hesitations and solitudes.
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