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Alifa Rifaat |
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Alifa Rifaat – Introduction -
Alifa Rifaat was a famous author of Egypt who faced much controversy. Her short stories portray the life story of conventional Muslim ladies in the rural parts of their country. Alifa Rifaat was different from other literary persons in Egypt as she had traveled outside Egypt for several times but did not ever spoke any other language than Arabic. She traveled to Germany, England, Canada, Tunisia, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Turkey.
Life and works of Alifa Rifaat -
When Alifa Rifaat was young she wished to attend a university but her parents did not give their consent on this as they wanted her to get married. She accepted this decision, which was reflected in the works of Alifa Rifaat. She remained a traditional Muslim woman but looked at her religion critically. Stories written by Alifa Rifaat reflect the isolation of purdah. She had also stated that the husbands should respect the sexual desires and wants of their consorts.
Alifa Rifaat never went to college but took some lessons at Cairo’s British Institute and kept on reading Arabic fictions and other religious works. In 1955 she began writing and majority of her works had provincial Egypt as setting. She never took the approach of a traditional Islamic female but criticized men for their doing their duties in accordance with the Islamic tradition. Alifa Rifaat told the story of the hardships that Islamic women faced.
Theme of the works by Alifa Rifaat -
The point of view of Alifa Rifaat was to challenge few fundamentalist explanations of the traditions of Islam. This was her perspective as she expressed her thoughts within what she believed to be the responsibility of their husbands towards their wives without giving up to Western influences.
Alifa Rifaat also depicted death prominently. She became a widow when she was 48. Upbringing of her three children was done solely by her. ‘Distant View of a Minaret’ is the most famous work of Alifa Rifaat in English. In January 1996 her death occurred in Cairo.
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Distant View of a Minaret –
Distant View of a Minaret reflects Alifa Rifaat’s concept of persistent cultural forces, sexual dissatisfaction and fatality. This book is a beautiful compilation of short stories. Alifa Rifaat wrote it in Egypt during the beginning years of the 1980s. The narrator is different in different stories. The stories are at times told in a first-person narrative and now and then an omniscient narrator tells the stories.
For obtained more knowledge about the other popular Egyptian authors you can click on the other vita links on our site egyptflightshub.com.
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