Waguih Ghali

Susie Thomas (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.1.1: North African Writing and Culture: Arabic, Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanic.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Lia Brozgal (University of California, Los Angeles), Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), Ziad Elmarsafy (King's College London), Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Dalia Mostafa (University of Manchester), Nora Parr (SOAS, University of London), Rita Sakr (Maynooth University)

Dates

Born 1930
Died 1969
Activity 1962-1969

Places

Born in Egypt
Active in Egypt; United Kingdom

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Ghali's Works

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Waguih Ghali's only published novel,

Beer in the Snooker Club

(1964), is a love letter to two cities, Cairo and London, which has received very little recognition in either. The novel, written in English, allows us to see the Suez Crisis, Nasser's regime, and indeed Europe and the Empire, from the perspective of an educated and urbane Egyptian. It is an astonishingly original view. Moreover, Ghali's seductive voice weaves together a captivating political narrative and a sophisticated romance with wit and pathos. Although it garnered positive reviews in the British and American press in 1964 and again on its reissue in 1987, Ghali's image of Egypt did not seem to fit the existing categories: “it is not the familiar blend of romanticism and exoticism of [Lawrence] Durrell and others nor…

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4270 words

Citation: Thomas, Susie. "Waguih Ghali". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12226, accessed 21 November 2024.]