Alifa Rifaat

By Martin J. Cullen
 Biographic History

 Alifa Rifaat was born in Cairo, Egypt on 5th June, 1930.

She was brought up with a strong Islamic tradition,
something she grew knowledgeable of at a young
age.
 She was married to a police officer and raised three
children. She began writing in 1950’s, only to be given
an ultimatum by her husband, making her decide
between writing and being a wife and mother. This
caused Rifaat to take a fifteen year absence from
writing, until returning in the 1970’s
Surroundings

 Growing up in twentieth century Egypt with a strong Muslim upbringing, it is

inevitable that her surroundings and faith influenced nearly everything she
wrote.
 Islam and North Africa have had history of misogyny and oppression. It is
this that takes center stage of Rifaat’s work.
 She tries hard and executes well to include the feelings of women of how
they were mistreated and still are in some parts of the world.
 She also does a good job of depicting the detailed daily life of Egyptian
women in her stories. It is her own life that enables her to do this was such
accuracy and depth.
Writing Style

 Rifaat has almost always written her stories in Arabic, and they usually focus
on women in Egypt and other countries in the North Africa region.
 Rifaat never received a university education and rarely travelled. Her
isolation from Western society gave her a different perspective than most
other popular Muslim writers.
Literary Intentions

 Even though Rifaat wrote predominately about feminist issues and

oppression from men and religion. She was not anti-male or anti-Islam, quite
the opposite in fact.
 She wanted men and women to work together to preserve Islamic
traditions of peace and prosperity. As previously mentioned, she was never
influenced by Western societies, which means she wasn’t exposed to
propaganda and other ways of life. She wanted her own homelands and
her own traditions and faith to to work together and coincide in harmony.
Distant View of a Minaret

 The story of Distant View of a Minaret focuses on the sexual intimacy

between the main female character and her husband.
 The intimacy discussed is one filled with dissatisfaction and a desire to
speak out about her feelings, something the character is unable to do.
 Silence among women is a reoccurring theme in Rifaat’s stories as it shows
the sexist oppression forced into women in that part of the world during
that time period.
Another Evening at the Club

 This story by Rifaat tells the tale of Samia, who loses her emerald ring, and
blames the servant in her home. Samia later finds the ring that she dropped
behind a table, but decides not to release the truth and allows of the
imprisonment of the servant.
 It is a story that raises the issues of moral judgement, and shows the
restricted role of woman in that part of the world. Samia’s husband says
that he will resolve the issue because Samia doesn’t have the rights to do
so herself.
Critical Reception

 Alifa Rifaat’s work has been disputed by critics. Some say her writing style
is too vulgar with topics such as lesbianism, female circumcision, and
rape. However, other’s view her work as important and empowering for
women in those societies.
References

 Alifa Rifaat.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Dec. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alifa_Rifaat#Distant_View_of_a_Minaret. (For biographical information only such
as birth date and location).
 Cooke, Miriam. "Prisons: Egyptian Women Writers on Islam." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by
Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 346, Gale, 2017. Literature Resource
Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420123358/LitRC?u=char69915&sid=LitRC&xid=ee6b76a
e. Originally published in Religion and Literature, vol. 20, no. 1, 1988, pp. 139-153.
 Hatem, Mervat. “The Lives behind the Politics.” The Women's Review of Books, vol. 3, no. 10, 1986, pp. 10–
11. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4019948.
 Nkealah, Naomi. "Reconciling Arabo-Islamic culture and feminist consciousness in North African women's
writing: silence and voice in the short stories of Alifa Rifaat and Assia Djebar." Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, vol.
45, no. 1, 2008, p. 19+. Literature Resource
Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A180555981/LitRC?u=char69915&sid=LitRC&xid=f4ab3daa.
 Salti, Ramzi M. “Feminism and Religion in Alifa Rifaat's Short Stories.” International Fiction Review, 1991,
journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/IFR/article/view/14098/15180.
 She, Chia-Ling. "Truly living as a woman: sexual politics in Alifa Rifaat and Nawal El Saadawi's short
stories." Tamkang Review, vol. 45, no. 2, 2015, p. 111+. Literature Resource
Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A434045590/LitRC?u=char69915&sid=LitRC&xid=3c48547d.