Elisabetta Benigni

Prison nostalgia and the collapse of emancipatory futures: Women‘s writings from the Egyptian prison of al-Qanāṭir al-Ḫayriyya

Introduction

Prison nostalgia and the collapse of emancipatory futures: women‘s writings from the egyptian prison of al-qanāṭir al-Ḫayriyya . Analyze women's prison writings from Egypt's al-Qanāṭir al-Ḫayriyya (1981) by al-Saʿdāwī & al-Zayyāt. Reveals post-colonial melancholia, nostalgia, and disrupted emancipatory futures.

Abstract

During the 1960s and 1970s, many intellectuals and ordinary citizens in Egypt were imprisoned and detained for political reasons. Many of them wrote about their experiences, creating a corpus of prison memoirs known by the Arabic name of adab al-suğūn (prison literature). These texts reflect the ambivalent position of intellectuals during the Nasser and post-Nasser periods, oscillating between their faith in the state, even when it revealed its repressive nature, and their progressive loss of trust in it. This article focuses on memoirs written by women who were imprisoned in the al-Qanāṭir al-Ḫayriyya prison in 1981. I will first highlight some common themes in women’s prison writing, particularly within Egyptian literature. Then, I will closely examine two memoirs: Nawāl al-Saʿdāwī’s Muḏakkirātī fī siğn al-nisā’ (‘My Memories from Women Prison,’ 1983) and Laṭīfa al-Zayyāt’s Ḥamlat taftīš: awrāq šaḫṣiyya (‘The Search: Personal Papers,’ 1992), pointing at the way these authors use the resources and conventions of the genre of prison literature to deconstruct the rhetorical image of the imprisoned intellectual. Building on Mikhail Bakhtin’s idea of the chronotope and on recent scholarship regarding the interplay between temporality, post-colonial memory, and trauma, I will demonstrate how the mass arrests of 1981, the emergence of a neo-liberal order in Egypt, and the failure of revolutionary and emancipatory ideals disrupt a linear perception of time. This creates a rupture, leading to what can be described as a ‘post-colonial melancholia’ that leads the women authors toward an idealization of the prison experience.

Review

This article promises a compelling and nuanced examination of women's prison writings from Egypt, specifically focusing on memoirs from the al-Qanāṭir al-Ḫayriyya prison following the mass arrests of 1981. Building upon the rich tradition of *adab al-suğūn* (prison literature), the author sets out to explore the particularly ambivalent position of intellectuals during the Nasser and post-Nasser periods. The central thesis, that a "prison nostalgia" emerges from a "post-colonial melancholia" linked to the collapse of emancipatory futures and the rise of a neo-liberal order, offers a fresh and critical perspective on a deeply significant period in Egyptian political and literary history. This framing immediately signals a sophisticated engagement with the psychological and socio-political dimensions of state repression and disillusionment. Methodologically, the article intends to highlight common themes in women's prison writing before undertaking close readings of two pivotal memoirs: Nawāl al-Saʿdāwī’s *Muḏakkirātī fī siğn al-nisā’* and Laṭīfa al-Zayyāt’s *Ḥamlat taftīš: awrāq šaḫṣiyya*. The theoretical framework is particularly robust, drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope and contemporary scholarship on temporality, post-colonial memory, and trauma. This interdisciplinary approach is designed to deconstruct the traditional rhetorical image of the imprisoned intellectual, revealing instead how the failure of revolutionary ideals and the events of 1981 created a rupture in linear time. The proposed analysis of this temporal disruption, leading to an idealization of the prison experience, is a particularly intriguing aspect of the research. Overall, this article appears to be a significant and timely contribution to the fields of Middle Eastern literary studies, gender studies, and post-colonial theory. By interrogating "prison nostalgia" as a manifestation of profound political and emotional shifts, the author offers a complex understanding of how historical trauma and ideological failure are processed through personal narrative. The focus on women's experiences further enriches the discourse, providing an essential perspective often marginalized in broader discussions of prison literature. This promises a thought-provoking analysis that moves beyond simplistic interpretations of suffering or resistance to explore the intricate layers of memory, identity, and political disillusionment.

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