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[cblj_backup]

I feel a great sensation of satisfaction these days when I actually finish a book, even if it's only 114 pages.

Actually, Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi is a fantastic book, so there's a lot crammed into those hundred and fourteen pages.

I came across the title ages ago on a list of Six Egyptian Writers You Don't Know But Should, and I finally sourced a copy at the library. It's a relatively simple story: the life of Firdaus, a peasant's daughter raised in extreme poverty, who we first meet when she's in prison for murder and facing the death penalty.

It's an engaging story, with a lot of interesting twists and themes that I'm not sure I quite grasp in full yet. Firdaus is always looking at eyes, judging or being judged by them, and there are repeated references to gestures of violence -- the rise and fall of a hand in specific. It's an expressive account of the oppression women face under extremist rule, including genital mutilation, constant sexual harassment, and physical abuse. Firdaus is molested by her uncle, abused by her husband, imprisoned by the man who helps her escape her husband, toyed with by her socially-mobile boyfriend, and harassed by her boss the one time she tries legitimate employment.

I was a little weirded out by the commentary around the book, though. People keep talking about how it's a story of her "descent" into prostitution and the foreword to the book talks about how she acts instinctively because she lives on the fringes of society, but niether seems quite correct to me. Firdaus' first experience with prostitution isn't voluntary, but after trying legal employment as a clerk she chooses prostitution when she realizes that it affords her freedoms no other position in society will give her, including the income to eat what she pleases and buy books and art.

I am speaking the truth now without any difficulty. For the truth is always easy and simple. aNd in its simplicity lies its savage power. I only arrived at the savage, primitive truths of life after years of struggle. [...] And to have arrived at the truth means that one no longer fears death. For death and truth are similar in that they both require a great courage if one wishes to face them. -- p. 112

The tragedy, at least the way I read it, was that she finds liberation and society still figures out a way to imprison and torment her; she becomes free but at a pretty terrible price.

Final Verdict: Woman At Point Zero is a great book; a fast read, and well worth the time to read deliberately and explore.

Comments

[mycatsellsclues.livejournal.com]

I am so happy my library system has a wishlist function.
*adds book to list*
*ignores length of list*

[queenlily.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the rec. I read this tonight and really enjoyed it. Now I'm thinking about which level of college lit class it would be appropriate to teach this in, if any. Probably not sophomore.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I was reading books more explicit than this (The Bluest Eye, for example) in high school. I think sophomores could handle it no problem. I'd much rather have read this than the dreary "Dreams Of Trespass" which I had to read for my mandatory course on middle eastern culture as a freshman.

[queenlily.livejournal.com]

I worry I'm desensitized, particularly after I taught Salih's Season of Migration to the North last semester. I zipped right through the sexual violence, but my students seemed to be shocked by all of it, even the non-stabbing parts. "All those people talk about is sex!" Maybe they can handle it but aren't used to discussing such things in public? I feel kind of like you describe in your YA series on your other blog--can I get the age and experience level right if I wasn't average myself when I was in their place?

Anyway. Glad for your input! Thank you!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Perhaps that is some of it, yeah. It's why I often measure by what books I was reading for class at whatever age, because my personal reading habits were not those of my peers, for the most part :D

It could also be a cultural thing, I don't know what culture you hail from. And I've come to understand that my high school experiences in English were not those of many other areas of the US, even -- I had much, much more emphasis placed on diversity and multiculturalism by my teachers than standard American curriculum.

[queenlily.livejournal.com]

I'm from the US deep south (not being too specific online, as it's a small department). I think much of my wariness does come from the majority of my students being raised politically conservative and told to distrust the indoctrinating liberal professor. While the university does try to present authors not traditionally in the canon, I don't think that's what most students are used to from their high school experiences. It's as though the undergrads know the administration has an agenda to broaden their minds (particularly regarding our racist past and present) and they become hostile to such an overt goal. I guess when I think 'Is this age appropriate?', what I really wonder is 'Have they had enough time away as adults to accept a perspective this far from their comfort zone?'

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Ahh, yeah. I can see how that would present its own unique challenges. :)