On Gothic Night

In her review of "The Uncanny Reader.. Short stories from the shadows", Rebecca Nesvet wrote: 

"This reader's favorite discoveries are by the Postmodern Egyptian writer Mansoura Ez Eldin. A journalist and novelist, she contributes "Gothic Night", a tale that's almost a prose poem, told in the very Gothic convention of deliberate fragmentation, which completely belies its apparently self-explanatory title. It's also a fable with more than one interpretation. It rises to mythopoesis, and makes this reader want very much to read Ez Eldin's award-winning novels, not all of which have yet been translated into English."

You can read the complete review here.

On Beyond Paradise

Ahmed Khalifa

Book Review: Beyond Paradise وراء الفردوس by Mansoura Ez Eldin:

After establishing herself as one of Egypt's finest writers with her previous novel, Maryam's Maze, Mansoura Ez Eldin decides to do something daring with her second novel. Shift gears and try something different and more difficult to pull off. Well, does she succeed? The novel, titled Beyond Paradise, at first seems to be her attempt at a grand Gothic novel a la some of the works of Joyce Carol Oates; a novel high on melodrama and with a large cast of eccentric characters. But to expect conventionalism from Ez Eldin wouldn't be smart, and after the stunningly gripping (and Gothic) opening, the novel shifts gears and becomes a sprawling psychological study of several characters as told through the eyes of an unreliable narrator: a young woman seemingly grieving for her just deceased father. 

Ez Eldin takes us on a compelling journey through the lives and psyches of the characters, and every now and then shows us their worst fears and nightmares with her assured style and penchant for nightmarish imagery. It's an intriguing piece of work, occasionally fascinating, and, above all, daring and stylish. And to me, the last sentence of the novel is sheer brilliance and manages to end the novel on an effectively chilling note.

Via: arabic-lit.blogspot

The Best of 2008

Ahmed Khalifa

As for the best book I read in 2008, the answer is simple...

Maryam's Maze (متاهة مريم) By Mansoura Ez El Din:

Mansoura Ez El Din's tribute to Gothic literature is nothing less than a marvel. With Egypt's bestseller lists cluttered with repetitive, passive aggressive fiction and non-fiction about Buildings, taxis and problems with the Middle East, here is a book that attempts to do something different and pulls it off in spades.

A harrowing and highly compelling psychological study of a woman's descent into madness, Maryam's Maze uses the Gothic archetypes and imagery as a launching pad and runs with them through a series of vignettes, images and characters that are for the most part unforgettable. Ez El Din's stylish prose, tireless imagination, and penchant for darkly surreal images, make it one of the most surprising and original books to come out of Egypt in a long time. A must read. (Also available in an English-translated edition).

Via: Arabic-lit.blogspot

23 December 2008