Sonallah Ibrahim

Son'allah Ibrahim (Arabic:صــنــع الله إبــراهــيــم) is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer and one of the "sixties Generation" who is known for his leftist and nationalist views which are expressed rather directly in his work. His novels, especially the last ones, incorporate many excerpts from newspapers, magazines and other political sources as a way to enlighten the people about a certain political or social issue. Because of his political opinions he has been imprisoned in the 1960s; his imprisonment is featured in his first book, a collection of short stories called "That smell" تلك الرائحة which was one of the first writings in Egyptian literature to adopt a modernist tinge. His last book "Memoirs of the Oasis Prison" returns to the same theme.

In harmony with his political ideas, he recently refused to accept a prestigious literary award worth 100,000 Egyptian pounds from Egypt's ministry of culture.

Writings

His novels are typically told in the first person, in a cold objective tone resembling press reportage which mimics reality. His main theme seems to be the importance of resisting the influence of the political mega-powers which attempt to invade the third world economically through many ways including the transcontinental companies. As an example, "Sharaf" [=Honour] deals with the intrusion of American politics in Egypt and includes long passages frankly criticising the big drug companies and their policies in third world countries. His interests are not limited to the situation in Egypt; "Beirut..Beirut" is something like an overview of the Lebanese civil war of the '70s and '80s, and "Warda" reveals a little known episode about the activities of leftists and communists in Yemen and Oman in the '60s and '70s. The title of one of his latest novels is "Amricanly" which superficially means " American" or "in an American way" but is really a parody of another word "Othmanly" related to the notorious dark ages when Turkey ruled Egypt. The word "Amricanly" in another way is almost a transliteration of the phrase "My affairs "were" mine" in Arabic. His novel, "The Committee" is often described by critics as kafkaesque. In it the protagonist seeks entry into a shadowy organization. He is routinely subject to their vetting process and Sonallah uses his character to make numerous political observations in the form of speeches to the committee.

Works

* "That smell", short stories تلك الرائحة (Some editions: "The Smell of It"-Liberal translation)
* "The committee", a novel اللجنة
* "The star of August", a novel نجمة أغسطس
* "Beirut..Beirut", a novel بيروت بيروت
* "Zat" [=Self] , a novel ذات
* "Sharaf" [=Honour] , a novel شرف
* "Warda", [=Rose] a novel وردة
* "Amricanly", a novel "أمرى كان لى "أمريكانلى
* "Memoirs of the Oasis prison", autobiographical مذكرات سجن الواحات
* "Cairo from Edge to Edge " a portarit of Cairo with photogrepher Jean Pierre Ribiere
* "Al-talassos"

translation Works

"the enemy" (author James Drought) العدو

External links

* [http://www.kefaya.org/reports/0311Alkhamisi.htm Son'allah Ibrahim refusing a prize] ar icon
* [http://adab.chez-alice.fr/index.php?page=sonallah.htm Sonallah Ibrahim bio-bibliography] fr icon