Nawal Al-Sadawi’s ‘My Writings… My Life’A Biography of Refusal and Rebellion

Abstract

This paper reviews the autobiography of Nawal Al-Sadawi (1931-2017) who was a prominent Egyptian feminist writer. The study attempts to uncover the feminist tenets in this literary work from a post-modernism perspective. Specifically, it focuses on how men see themselves as the ‘self’ and see women as the „other’. Al-Sadawi reflects such an extreme feminist approach that she was threatened to be killed because of these extreme ideas and thoughts. This led her to run away to the states. The paper argues that Al-Sadawi follows two paths to reflect her true existence and identity: freedom to objection and revolution and freedom of writing. It is through these paths she replicates the factors that affected her writings. First, the childhood experiences developed a Freudian complex due to having stereotypical image of women. Second, the patriarchal masculinist authoritative society, which differentiates between the male and the female, led her to a feeling of injustice. Finally, the religious malpractice drove Al-Sadawi to have an anti-religious stand.