Gender, Nation, and the Arabic Novel

A nuanced understanding of literary imaginings of masculinity and femininity in the Arabic novel. While the 'woman question' in the Arabic novel has received considerable attention, the 'male question' has gone largely unnoticed. Gender studies in Arabic literature has become equated with women's writing, leaving aside the possibility of a radical rethinking of the Arabic literary canon and Arab cultural history. This book bucks that trend, offering a nuanced understanding of literary imaginings of masculinity and femininity in the context of the 'national' canon of Egypt. Foregrounding voices that have been marginalised, but also considering canonical works, it engages with new directions in the novel tradition and sheds new light on key debates including the project of nation-building in the modern period; the process of inclusion and exclusion in canon formation; the geopolitics of definitions of national or cultural identity in the global world; and the conceptual discourses on gender and nation. Key Features: *Interrogates the canon of modern Arabic literature * Sheds light on literary voices, both male and female, that have been marginalized in Egyptian national literary history *Contributes to current scholarship on gender and nation in postcolonial contexts *Intervenes in current debates on the meaning of national identity in a global context.