A'isha Taymur

I forgot to recommend the new book by comrade Mervat Hatem, Literature, Gender, and Nation-building in Nineteenth Century Egypt: The Life and Works of A'isha Taymur."   Mervat was a dear friend from my Washington, DC years and I learned from her a lot about issues of gender and more.  This is an original book containing original research on somebody who should be more known in Arabic and English.  It is high time that Western academics who study the women of the Middle East steer away from the obsession with Huda Sha`rawi.  While Taymur comes from an upper class background, she was an original writer (in three languages) and Hatem relates her writings to nation building in Egypt.  Hatem is not in any way promoting the political choices of Taymur: and she does not shy away from talking about her connection to Khedive Twefik.  What is most interesting is that Hatem deals with Taymur's treatment of the definition of masculinity.  Growing up, I was more a fan of Mahmud Taymur, her nephew.  His short story, Under the wheels of the Train, affected me deeply as a boy.