Contemporary Woman in Modern Egyptian Prose

The thesis examines the image of the modern Egyptian woman in the prose narrative of four contemporary women writers of Egypt. They are Hala El Badry, Salwa Bakr, Mona Prince and Miral al-Tahawy. Based on the interpretation and analysis of six selected literary texts this paper will aim at uncovering the authors' view on the woman of today's Egypt. The thesis will try to answer its research question, considering the historical development of woman's role and standing in Egyptian society, as well as taking into account the development of women's literature in Egypt. The research question is as follows: What is the woman's role in contemporary Egypt and how her standing in society is reflected in literary works of contemporary women writers of Egypt? The thematic analysis of the selected works will therefore focus on the fate of the main female protagonists, it will examine the extent of personal fulfilment within the field of their family life, love, intimacy and relationships, work and many others; it will point at difficulties a woman in Egypt might be facing nowadays; the analysis will also present the world women live in and it will study their opinion on societal norms, mores and religious traditions which originate in the patriarchal organisation of Arab societies and can be in a direct..