The author’s book “Sheherezade on the Banks of
Lake Geneva"was our
readers club selection for March 2008.
Visit our Readers Club main page
Find more information on our March 2008
selection book, its author and readers discussion.
His
novel Khizanat el-Kalam was our readers club selection for February 2001.
Check for February 2001 here and
view readers discussion online
Born in Giza, Egypt on 7 August 1937, Mr. Ateya was an active
member of the Egyptian Writers' Movement of the 1960's. He was one of the founders of
"Gallery 68" , the literary magazine which soon became the mouthpiece of the
writers of his generation.
He has been living in Switzerland for the past two decades.
His latest novel "A
Question of Savagery" is a mosaic of interweaving images and situations which leaves the reader facing the fundamental questions of our times. Ateyya's characters find themselves in an endless quest for illumination amidst meals in cafes and restaurants and bright colored balloons while humanity is tearing itself apart. With the Geneva conventions, the Bosnia world crime's tribunal, Sharon's atrocities and the plight of the Iraqi people in the background, the novel's intellectual protagonists are torn between their helplessness and the parallel reality of their dreams.
His
novel entitled "The
Alexandrian Papers" captures the struggles of at
least three generations of ordinary Egyptians. It is a courageous attempt to encapsule
Egypt's twentieth century history as well as to explore the next millenium. A work of
great literary integrity, it is as insightful as it is enjoyable.
See more links to Gamil
Ateyya and his work on this site:
Scheherazade on the Banks of Lake Geneva Review by Mohamad Anakar
Shehrezade in Geneva
a chapter from the novel
A Place for the Jinn a chapter from the novel
The Decline of the Role of Writers is a Disaster Gamil Ateyya in an interview with Salwa Lubani
Gamil Ateya's Palm Mohamed Anakar
in Arabic
Book review by
Ibrahim Fathi in Arabic
A Question of Savagery Book review by Fathi Aburafia in Arabic
Book review by Yusuf Rakha
in English
Among his works are: In Arabic
*Sheherezade on the Banks of Lake Geneva Hilal
2007
A Question of Savagery Miret 2003
Ateyya's characters find themselves in an endless quest for
illumination amidst meals in cafes and restaurants and bright
colored balloons while humanity is tearing itself apart.
* Palm on the Brink "Nakhla 'ala
al-Hafa" a novel
* Safe of Words Khizanat el-Kalam
A novel - 2000
This book was our readers club selection for February 2001
* Mourning
Becomes Friends "al-Hidad Yaliku
Bi-l-Asdika'a"
a collection of stories 1976
* Side Talk " Ahadith Janibiyya " stories
* Assilan
a novel 1980
* The
Sea is not Full " al-Bahru Laisa Bimala'an " a novel
* Down
to the Sea " al-Nnuzul Ila al-Bahr " a novel
Dar al-Mustakbal al-Arabi-Cairo
1986
* Revolution
" al-Thawra " a trilogy 1952, 1954, 1981
In English
*
Down to the Sea " al-nuzul Ila al-Bahr " a novel
Translated by Francis Liardet ( London:Quartet 1991 )
* His short story The Child and the
King was included in Egyptian Short Stories
selected and translated by Denys Johnson Davies (Washington D.C.: Three Continents
Press,1978)
* His short story The Old Man was included in Arabic Short Stories selected and translated
by Denys Johnson Davies
( London, Melbourne and New York: Quartet. 1983 )
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