Summary
Novel, meaning the other village
The novel 'Al-Balda al-Ukhra' (The Other Village) attempts to examine the sociological and political effects of foreign workers in the Gulf countries. Few writers have touched on the subject of the lives of guest workers in Middle Eastern countries. A major percentage of these workers come from third world countries. Their remittances sometimes constitute the backbone of their respective countries' economies. Not enough research has been done on the impact of the Middle East experience on these workers.See the full content of this document
Extract
Al-Balda al-Ukhra: a meta-text unveiled.
Ibrahim Abd al-Maguid, a rising star on the Arab literary scene, was awarded the American University in Cairo 1996 prize for his novel Al-Balda al-Ukhra (The Other Village), a work that is as moving as it is cerebral, as poignant as it is daring. A tale of epic proportions, heavily allegorical, it is narrated in the first person. A tour de force, this work will prove to be a landmark in contemporary Arabic fiction. In January of 1997, Abd al-Maguid was recognized for La Ahad Yanam fi al-Iskandariyya (No One Sleeps in Alexandria), by receiving Jai'zat al-Dawla al-Tashji'yya. Writing about the Gulf, the life experiences as well as the seismic changes that are challenging this pivotal part of the world have been successful in Abd al-Rahman Munif's Mudun al-Milh, (Cities of Salt) a classic of the genre. Others have written memorable works; for example Gamal al-Ghitani, Yusuf al-Qaid, and Iqbal Barraka.
Abd al-Maguid, however, gives us a tale of mythic proportions couched in the human drama of the daily life of hundreds of "foreign nationals," or those euphemistically labeled as "guest workers" throughout the Gulf countries. Although there have been numerous sociological studies conducted in the past decades attempting to asses the statu...See the full content of this document
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