A Struggle for Independence: A Young Woman’s Coming of Age as National Allegory in Laṭīfa al-Zayyāt’s al-Bāb al-maftūḥ

Författare

Sandra Buijsse

Summary, in English

Without question, Laṭīfa al-Zayyāt (1923-96), ranks among the most important Egyptian and Arab writers, critics, and activists of the 20th century. Published in 1960, her breakthrough novel al-Bāb al-maftūḥ [The Open Door] chronicles the emotional, psychological, and political growth of Layla, daughter of a conservative, Egyptian middle-class family. The backdrop of her story is the decade of tumultuous nationalist political activity in Egypt (1946-56) that leads to national independence. This thesis attempts to find thorough support for the hypothesis that Layla—and her female body—symbolizes contemporary Egypt.
This thesis shows how—on a structural level—Layla’s struggle to free herself from patriarchal traditions parallels Egypt’s battle for national liberation from British imperial rule. As a quasi-autobiographical novel, insights about the author’s life and political commitment, as well as the historical (and literary) context in which al-Bāb al-maftūḥ emerged, help the reader to understand the novel’s underlying dimensions. The inseparable intertwining nature of the personal and the public imbues the novel, not only in terms of plot but also as illustrated by sideline events, specific quotations, and its use of dialect and borrowed words in the standard Arabic language. To conclude, this thesis finds strong evidence for the assumption that Layla can be considered a symbol of Egypt, and her personal struggle can thus be read as a national allegory.

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