兀毓賲丕賱 鬲丨賵賱鬲 廿賱賶 賲爻乇丨: 賰賱 匕賱賰 丕賱氐賵鬲 丕賱噩賲賷賱 West Shore Community College 鈥� Michigan- U.S.A
Salwa Bakr is an Egyptian critic, novelist and author. She was born in the Matariyya district in Cairo in 1949 and studied business at Ain Shams University, gaining a BA degree in 1972 and went on to earn another BA in literary criticism in 1976, before embarking on a career in journalism. She has worked as a film and theatre critic for various Arabic newspapers and magazines.
Bakr's work often deals with the lives of the impoverished and the marginalized. In 1985, she published her first collection of short stories, "Zinat at the President's Funeral", which was an immediate success. She has published several collections of short stories since. Her debut novel is "Wasf al-Bulbul" (1993).
How many stars? I am not sure....... I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who is deeply interested in the early Christian church. The setting is 9th century Egypt, under Arab-Muslim rule at a time when the majority of Egyptians were still Coptic-Christian. Egypt had previously been under Byzantine rule. The Byzantine Church, known as the Melkite church and like the Coptic Church is also considered Orthadox, had brutally persecuted the Copts. The story follows the lives of two Coptic priests who have been sent to a region where the land farmers have been revolting against the Arab rulers, Even though I have traveled numerious times to the Egypt and thought I was fairly knowleable, I learned a lot reading this book. That being said, I also realised that I am not all that interested in the differences between religions. I tend to always look for the unity and similarities in religions, so find it difficult to comprehend why people would fight over what seem to me to be small differences. There are lots of theological religious discussions that I just found too long to be enjoyable. It is also a very masculine novel with no interesting female characters.For these two reasons, I did not like the novel as much as I hoped however I did appreciate it because of all the detailed history.
I rather hate to write a review about this book which is so rich in some of its character development, obscure history (especially to Westerners), and divine philosophy. I really can't do it justice, but I will mention a few things which stood out to me and which I loved.
The author of The Man from Bashmour is an Egyptian who is Muslim, but the main characters of the novel are Coptic Orthodox Christians. The novel's introduction states that even though this book caused come controversy at the time of its publication, it was approved as historically sound by Egypt's Coptic church leadership. Though fiction, this is the kind of history that's certainly not taught in school here in the states. It's not known, and the political and mainstream US church leadership probably wouldn't want us to know.
I love this book even though on about five or six occasions when the story was transitioning it became a bit choppy and a tad confusing. Perhaps it wasn't the author's but fault of the translator.
The Man from Bashmour is set in the 9th century in Egypt and the Middle East, a time of great upheaval and transition as it is now in our era. The story is told in first person by a young Coptic man name Budayr who is the sexton of a church and monastery in Old Cairo. Budayr is a child of loss and confusion; he is a seeker. His best friend is Thawna who is older, wise, learned, and already quite world weary. The Egypt of the 9th century has already faced the conquest of Islam, but the population lives in a somewhat uneasy peace. The threat is more from the caliph's armies from Baghdad and oppressive landowners than the regular everyday folk. Some Coptic Christians are leaving Christianity for Islam. There is still a hint of the old pharaonic religion as well. Therefore, the Egypt of the 9th century is very complex and things are fluid.
Of the two main characters, Thawna is more of my favorite than Budayr who is sometimes too weepy. However, Budayr's narration is often beautiful, touching, and profound. Budayr's odyssey reminds me somewhat of that of Prince Judah Ben Hur's in the novel Ben Hur. But in my opinion The Man from Bashmour is a far better and more profound read.
At the in end of the novel the author Salwa Bakr, who is a woman, provides a bibliography, a historical glossary, a listing of Biblical scripture used or referenced throughout the book, and information about the Coptic Orthodox calendar.
I want to point out here that "Copt" means Egyptian. Today there is said to still be about 18 million Copts living in Egypt. If you love history and want to know more about the history of a branch of the Eastern Church and to learn a little about the similarities between Christianity and Islam especially Orthodoxy and Islam, which is the oldest branch of Christianity, this book is a must read and a good introduction to the history Copts and Egypt after the Pharaohs.
Middle East/North African Lit discussion of The Man from Bashmour: /topic/show/...