Zaynab (novel)

Zaynab (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Zaynab
title_orig =
translator =


author = Husayn Haykal
cover_artist =
country = Egypt
language = Egyptian Arabic
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Haykal
release_date = 1913
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

Husayn Haykal's "Zaynab" is the first modern Egyptian novel published in 1913. The book depicts life in the Egyptian countryside and delves into the relationships between men and women.

Plot introduction

The novel is a seminal point in Egyptian literature since it is the first to feature a fully described, contemporary Egyptian setting and the first to be written in the Egyptian vernacular. Haykal had spent considerable time in France where he was studying as a lawyer, and it was actually at this point that he wrote Zaynab in 1911. Notably, the author chose the pseudonym "Masri Fallah" ("An Egyptian Rustic"), which perhaps underlines the lack of prestige attached to the genre at the time of his writing. Originally intended to be a short story, he found that his work had more mileage than he had first appreciated, and continued to tell the story of a young peasant girl named Zaynab, and of the three men who at one time or another strive for her affections.

Literary significance & criticism

Despite the structural flaws of the novel (its unrestricted romanticism, its poor division of the focus on Zaynab and Hamid, and a letter which is unashamedly Haykal's own words merely summarising the events that have transpired thus far), the novel is hugely important in beginning the era of the modern Egyptian novel, indeed one poised with vernacular language and characters, and a liberalizing political dimension.

Film, TV, or theatrical adaptations

It became the basis for Egypt's first film, which was produced in 1925.


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