Ructions in the Seraglio
Ruth Bernard Yeazell, 8 December 1994
The Harem Within: Tales of a Moroccan Girlhood
by Fatima Mernissi.
Doubleday, 254 pp., £16.99, September 1994,0 385 40542 1 Show More
by Fatima Mernissi.
Doubleday, 254 pp., £16.99, September 1994,
Ramza
by Out elKouloub, translated by Nayra Atiya.
Syracuse, 201 pp., £13.50, July 1994,0 8156 0280 4 Show More
by Out elKouloub, translated by Nayra Atiya.
Syracuse, 201 pp., £13.50, July 1994,
“... the harem is transformed into a nostalgic dream of the extended family. Promiscuous sex, it turns out, is the province of the New York singles scene rather than the mysterious East: the opening sequences give us just enough of the heroine’s pre-abduction life to make it clear that what she lacks is not lovers but a settled home and any genuine connection ... ”
