Al Shaykh, Mernissi, Al-Kuni

      Look at the structure of the storytelling. Now, in Mernissi, we get the relationship to nature at the beginning, the farm at the end, and structurally, not that important because it is an excerpt from a longer book that examines the harem from many angles.
      In the Al-Kuni story we have the crisis, followed by the reason for the crisis, followed by the deepening and irrevocable crisis .
      In the Al-Shaykh story we have the pretense, followed by the cause for the pretence, followed by the secondary cause for eh pretense, and then we are finally made aware that it was a pretense, tehn the true confession beyond the pretense, and the ending which shows why the ridiculaous pretense might have been necessary in the first place.

Hanan al-Shaykh (b. 1945) Lebanese woman who has become a cosmopolitan writer.
      “A Season of Madness” begins with the description of the madness. Note that many of the actions taken by the protagonist are particularly insane in the Arab context, such as raising her skirt above her bare knees.
      And the reader is kind of taken in along with the husband and his mother. When she says “I had always hated her nose,” justifying her biting of it, we are given to believe that she knew what she was doing. I love the question that she asks about why they didn’t rent a horse-drawn carriage that is printed on a silk scarf.
      Story of the courtship. Dazzled by the husband’s social status. Also, mystified by the choice of charms dangling from the mother’s gold bracelet. (Does this not show that she was extra sensitive to begin with?)
      It is not until much later in the story that we realize that her madness is feigned, in an attempt to have her husband cast her off (and so she can be free to be herself, to be with the other man). This ambition is thwarted by the compassion and basic goodness of the husband, a goodness not shared by his mother.
      The part where her madness spills over to the mother and she shouts like a maniac on 795.
      Then, when she resolves to confront them as a sane person, he “calmness made them flex their arms and legs, ready to ward off any sudden attacks, or run for their lives.”
      She narrates the story, showing some of the early attempts she made that weren’t so drastic—handing him the soap, making his shoes face towards the door, etc. Then she makes herself ugly by drinking milk, eating foods that will give her gas, not brushing her teeth, and still he remains (making even the reader wonder what’s up with this guy!).
      What she does tell them, in a sober voice, is a condensed version of the truth, which to them is so outlandish that they cannot but hink she is totally bonkers, even though she reveals the truth.

Fatima Mernissi (b. 1940)
      The story of the life within the harem. Mernissi, elsewhere, makes the distinction between the opulent and spectacular harem described in romantic texts of the Ottoman Empire (see Montagu) and the middle class herm that she knew. One might see this in the Golden age of Japan, as women passing through the streets were shielded by fans, or in India as purdah.
      This book that she has written, The Harem Within, is a true autobiographical account of her own life.
      Nature did not exist. A square of sky and geometric and floral designs on tiles, etc.
      The once a year picnic with the rowdy women playing tambourines and clapping hands. Even one of the women thought that it might be counted as a sin on judgment day.
      Another account, of escape from the terrace. Everyone would know what a woman had been up to when they saw her with bandaged knees or ankles—that she had had a bad landing when jumping from the terrace to the neighbor’s next door. But even this kind of escape mechanism was seen as a bit cowardly, compared to confronting Ahmed at the gate.
      Another kind of harem on Yasmina’s farm, where the prying eyes of men are not expected. It is here the conversation between the narrator and yasmina begins, with words are like onions being the kind of peeling away of layers of truth.
      Etymology of harem and haram and halal. A harem was about private space and the rules regulating it. Once you knew what was forbidden you carried the harem within you.
      Besides these laws, there are qa’ida everywhere that must be obeyed—most of the time it is against women.
      The only sign of the qa’ida was the violence after the fact.

Ibrahim Al-Kuni
      What is the real subject of the story? Is it the desperate desire for a son (one which we find in biblical writings as well)?
      Is it the transgression committed on the way to having this son? So the deal with the Magi is kind of a deal with the devil.
      Is it the battle between the forces of good or evil?