Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories

"More convincingly than any other woman writing in Arabic today, Alifa Rifaat lifts the veil on what it means to be a woman living within a traditional Muslim society." So states the translator's foreword to this collection of the Egyptian author's best short stories. Rifaat (1930-1996) did not go to university, spoke only Arabic, and seldom traveled abroad. This virtual immunity from Western influence lends a special authenticity to her direct yet sincere accounts of death, sexual fulfillment, the lives of women in purdah, and the frustrations of everyday life in a male-dominated Islamic environment.

Translated from the Arabic by Denys Johnson-Davies, the collection admits the reader into a hidden private world, regulated by the call of the mosque, but often full of profound anguish and personal isolation. Badriyya's despairing anger at her deceitful husband, for example, or the haunting melancholy of "At the Time of the Jasmine," are treated with a sensitivity to the discipline and order of Islam.

Other titles by African writers from Waveland Press:

Amadi, The Concubine (ISBN 9781478634607)

Andreas, The Purple Violet of Oshaantu (ISBN 9781478634584)

Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060)

Campbell, My Children Have Faces (ISBN 13 9781478635017)

Head, The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (ISBN 9781478607601)

Head, Maru (ISBN 9781478607618)

Head, A Question of Power (ISBN 9781478634690)

Head, When Rain Clouds Gather (ISBN 9781478607595)

Kubuitsile, The Scattering (ISBN 9781478634591)

Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011)

p'Bitek, Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol (ISBN 9781478604723)

Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575)

Alifa Rifaat has spent all her life in the Arab world, immersed in the traditions and culture of Islam. She was brought up in Egypt, a devout Muslim, strictly adhering to the Islamic way of life and well versed in the Qu'ran and religious teachings. Her education and a possible future career in art were curtailed when she married - her parents' alternative to university. A widow, she now lives in Cairo with her three children. Largely divorced from Western influences, speaking and writing only Arabic, Alifa Rifaat allows the reader a rare and enlightening glimpse at woman's condition in a male-dominated environment. Her originality lies not in any overt and conventional feminist approach, but rather through her implicit criticisms of the male neglect of his Islamic obligations to women, particularly in family life and marital relationships. She challenges behaviour from within the accepted framework of her society's religion and laws. Distant View of a Minaret was first published in English in 1983, by Quartet Books. Two of the stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.