Novel
اعترافات إنسان
Not translated into English
Mohammed Farid Sayala · 1961
Synopsis
اعترافات إنسان (Confessions of a Man): a Libyan doctor and his friend Salem exchange confidences and reflections. Their conversations turn on the customs of Libyan society, and first of all on the lot of women, deprived of education and kept apart in the name of tradition; the doctor pleads in them for their emancipation, for freedom and for equality.
Context
The text first appeared as a serial from 1959, then in volume form in 1961 with the label “Libyan story”; the author had already written two novels, Wa taghayyarat al-hayat in 1957 and Al-hayat sira' in 1959. Libyan critics see in it the country's first novel, others reserving that rank for Mabrouka by Hussein Zafer Ben Musa, printed in 1937. According to al-Sharq, the first edition, full of misprints, was withdrawn shortly after its release; the author reissued it in 2007, and the Qatari review al-Doha made it available again in 2017.
Who it is for
For reading, in Arabic, the book that opens the history of the Libyan novel, centred on the condition of women and untranslated.
Prizes and reception
A study taken up by al-Wasat notes a contradiction in the hero: he demands for women a freedom he does not grant them.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.