Nadia, Captive of Hope: Memoir of an Arab Woman: Memoir of an Arab Woman

by Fay Afaf Kanafani

Overview

A rare feminist perspective on a people and a culture in one of the most tumultuous regions in the world, Nadia, Captive of Hope is the autobiography of Fay Afaf Kanafani, an Arab Muslim woman born in Beirut in 1918.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765603111
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/31/1998
Series:	Foremother Legacies Series
Pages:	378
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1020L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; Nadia, Captive of Hope: Memoir of an Arab Woman; Afterword; Glossary

What People are Saying About This

Laurence Michalak

This is a quietly compelling and ultimately uplifting story, rich in remembered and reinvented dialogues, an insightful blend of poetry and history.

Hala Maksoud

A fascinating narrative of change from traditional to modernizing society. How this affects women's role, their perception of themselves and their worth and consequently gender relations in general is weaved into a personal story spanning six decades of Arab history. The indomitable spirit of Nadia and her determination help shatter many stereotypes about Arab women and their 'subjugation' and 'submissiveness.'

Editorial Reviews

Her family background was nearly as tumultuous as Middle East history, and, after settling in California in 1985, this Lebanese Muslim feminist was encouraged by an English instructor to write. This fictionalized autobiography recounts Afaf's experiences in Lebanon and Palestine from World War I to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. While the memoir concludes with her husband's death, the afterword notes that the author continues her artistic and Arab- Israeli peace activist pursuits. The volume includes an introduction by a Northeastern U. women's studies scholar, and a glossary of Arabic terms used. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews

It is with a frank and graceful voice that Afaf reveals her life. A life that steps beyond the many masks of oppression, and in so doing encourages others to do the same...[R]ecommended to readers with an interest in the Middle East women's rights and the struggle for autonomy.
— ForeWord

Jennifer Sperry

A candid memoir from a Beirut-born Muslim woman who recounts the drama of her personal life against the backdrop of political violence and upheaval in the Middle East. Written after the author fled war-torn Lebanon in the 1980s, this memoir is a remarkable and fascinating document about a woman's role in a Muslim family and her will to overcome both personal and political tragedies. Kanafani's story begins with her troubled home life in Beirut, complete with a family divided over status and fortune, aggressive brothers, and a sexually abusive father. While the young Nadia, as she is referred to in the memoir, survives her ordeals by means of avoidance, dreaming, and denial, she is unable to escape the arranged marriage to her cousin, to whom she was engaged when sh was 13. Traumatized by her new situation as a wife and member of her cousin's family in Haifa (in Palestine, then under British mandate), Nadia displays a stubbornness that leads to her being intoxicated and raped by her frustrated husband. The memoir evocatively describes how Nadia settles into her marriage and motherhood and provides an intriguing insider's perspective on daily life in Palestine during the 1930s and '40s. Jewish immigrants (a psychiatrist and a rabbi), Lebanese Christians, and old Palestinian Muslim families come to life in Kanafani's depictions of personal friends and acquaintances. The Palestinian period and her husband's death prove to be the first in a series of rebirths and tragedies. During the following decades, Nadia claims her independence and happiness through education, employment, motherhood, travel, romance, and a second blissful marriage. The memoir closes with the violence of the Lebanesecivil war, which claimed the life of Nadia's second husband and a way of life so frankly and (despite its tragic aspects) tenderly described in its earlier pages. A moving narrative that passionately describes one Muslim woman's determination to lead a life of her own choosing. (photos, not seen)

Kirkus Reviews