Books by Ghita El Khayat
“El Khayat’s a psychiatrist, writer and poet. She was very much influenced by Marguerite Duras’s The Lover. The Affair has been described as the first book by an Arab woman to chart an affair like this, the first erotic novel. She published it initially under a pseudonym, Lyne Tywa, in the 90s…The plot essentially charts an affair that goes on for several years between a young woman and an older man who is a bit of an intellectual. They meet mainly in what she calls ‘the slum’, even though they’re both—by the description of the circles they move in—more affluent. Like the Salwa Al Neimi book, there is not a consistent chronological development, it’s quite choppy. But it’s a series of meetings and strong emotions and scenes that she places together.” Read more...
Selma Dabbagh, Novelist
Interviews where books by Ghita El Khayat were recommended
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1
The Proof of the Honey
by Salwa Al Neimi and Carol Perkins (translator) -
2
In the Eye of the Sun
by Ahdaf Soueif -
3
The Affair
by Ghita El Khayat & Robert Thompson (translator) -
4
Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology
by Abdullah al-Udhari (editor) -
5
I Sweep the Sun Off Rooftops
by Hanan al-Shaykh
Erotic Writing by Arab Women, recommended by Selma Dabbagh
Erotic Writing by Arab Women, recommended by Selma Dabbagh
Arab women have been writing erotic literature for millennia and have become more creative and daring in recent years in the wake of the Arab Spring and the spread of social media, says novelist Selma Dabbagh, editor of a new anthology, We Wrote in Symbols: Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers. Here, she picks five key examples of erotic writing by women of the region.
