Subversive Writing: Mona Prince’s ‘Laughing Revolution’ from pre- to post-2011 Egypt

Authors

  • Patrizia Zanelli

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.6101

Abstract

Although it may seem absurd, it is no exaggeration to say that humour is a very serious matter in Egypt, where dozens of intellectuals have analysed this phenomenon, often linking it to their national identity. This article presents various opinions on Egyptian satire to introduce a 2015 novel by Mona Prince, one of the Egyptian writers of the 1990s generation. In 2012, the author published a memoir of the January 25 Revolution. This study tries to explain the relationship between her political activism and her literary career; the role of humour in her œuvre; and how she deals with gender and religious issues in her 2015 work, which is also autobiographic. Moreover, since the novelist wrote the text between 2008 and 2014, this article offers some notes on satiric literature in pre- and post-2011 Egypt.

Key words: Egyptian writers, fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, humour, satire, subversion, revolution.

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How to Cite

Zanelli, P. (2018). Subversive Writing: Mona Prince’s ‘Laughing Revolution’ from pre- to post-2011 Egypt. Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, 17, 35–52. https://doi.org/10.5617/jais.6101

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Articles