Novel
The Open Door
الباب المفتوح
Latifa al-Zayyat · 1960
Synopsis
The story opens on 21 February 1946, when Mahmoud, Layla's brother, is wounded by the British in Ismailia Square, according to Mada Masr. Layla grows up in a middle-class family in Cairo, with a father who, from her first period, restricts her freedom and considers marrying her to a cousin. While Egypt struggles for its independence, she joins the demonstrations and finds in them a momentum that the house denies her. Two suitors, her cousin Essam and Professor Ramzi, each seek to reduce her to what is expected of a woman.
Context
The novel appeared in 1960. It covers the decade 1946-1956, from the demonstrations against the British occupation to the Suez crisis, and has the political awakening and the intimate awakening of its heroine go hand in hand, which is judged innovative. A notable part of the text, 30 to 40% according to Mada Masr, is in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. The cinema adapted it in 1963, with Faten Hamama in the leading role, and the book later received the first Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.
Who it is for
A coming-of-age novel that mixes literary Arabic and Cairo speech; translated into English, with no French translation found.
Prizes and reception
According to Arab World Books, the book inspired a great number of Arab women readers seeking change.
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