User:Drsamooor/Sahar elmougy

Sahar Elmougy is an Egyptian novelist, column writer, gender trainer and radio announcer.

Biography

Sahar Elmougy was born in Old Cairo, Egypt on the 23rd July 1963. Raised up in the 60s one of the best cultural Eras in the Egyptian society and among a very distinctive family as the father Mr. Sa'ad Elmougy who was a manager at the ministry of tourism and one of the most famous leftists intellectuals back then. And the mother Gamalaat Al Zayadi, one of the most famous radio announcers back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s who was famous for her program " light news" or " Akhbar Khafefa". Graduated from English Literature department, Cairo university in 1984 and worked as teacher there. Received her M.A in English Poetry “Mysticism in the Poetry of Ted Hughes” (1991). The Faculty of Arts, Cairo University. Then received her  Ph.D in “The Mystical Quest in Hilda Doolittle’s  Poetry” (2001). The Faculty of Arts, Cairo University. Started her radio announcing career in 1984 where she has presented a weekly show entitled " Know thyself" for the European service of Radio Cairo. From December 2004 till june 2009 she has presented a weekly show entitled " the cultural workshop" which was concerened with the writings ( English and Arabic texts) of young writers where she criticize their pieces directly on- air and the writers can interact live with her. Since july 2009 and ongoing she presented " Looking for gold" which combined both the former shows in one show.

The story with writing

Writing:

For Sahar Elmougy, writing has started as being synonymous with deciphering the riddle of the "self". The moment she has started writing stories, quite oddly at the age of thirty, she was simultaneously trying to understand her "self", previously buried under the rubble of social masks. Each of the twenty two stories making her first collection Sayedat Almanam (The Lady of the Dream 1998) names one part of the jigsaw of that self. In exploring places of the heart, long forgotten geographies, close relations, social taboos & stereotypical ideas constricting women, Elmougy is constructing a new alphabet of the feminine self. (An English translation of the collection is available in …….).

In Daria (1999), Elmougy involves her reader into the journey of growth of the Egyptian protagonist from a failed marriage with a conservative & oppressive husband to a thwarted love affair with an artist. Going through the maze of social norms denying Daria the right to enjoy the two roles of poet & wife, the protagonist holds on to her intense night dreams as well as her pen. The raw material of dreams, vibrant with symbols & mythical figures, makes half of the narration of the novel, thus throwing more emphasis on the pain & joy of the self rediscovering itself. Places, such as Old Cairo & a small German town on the Rein, act as catalyst to the reborn self. While on the level of reality her old life collapses, writing shapes the backbone of a newly born self.

In Aliha Saghira (Small Gods) 2003, Elmougy explores the different manifestations of sadness which according to the Sufi Iman Alkoshayri stands between the heart & wandering the Valley of Unknowing. The positive aspect of sadness resonates in the fifteen stories of the book. The collection pinpoints how sadness, sorrow & loss humanize us & open previously locked doors of knowledge & compassion.

In Noon, Hathur (the Pharaohnic Goddess of sex, love & dance) is the narrator of the story of four friends, all educated middle class, liberal in an increasingly conservative society. Hathur is the narrator as well as the Goddess archetype in the four characters whose lives are depicted in Egypt between 2001- 2004. She is the ancient knowing voice who keeps whispering in their ears, inspiring them with the courage to love, to feel the pain & to be reborn in an ailing world. Because they are who they are, they are metaphorically witch hunted. The lives of mid thirties women is controlled by the conservative parents & jealous husbands. The lives of all are controlled by stagnant social mores in a society fearful of change, hateful of individuality. But Hathur keeps whispering the secrets of the inner temple spilling meanwhile her own secrets. When Sara is in rage over a love loss, Hathur reminds her of the time when she herself turned into the bloody Goddess Sekhmet. Having seen humans ignoring her father Ra & not paying him enough respect, she started killing people. She ran into the fields looking for more victims. "Ra" felt the weight of an approaching catastrophe, ("What if she kills all people, where would I find people to worship me!", he thought). He ordered his men to bring beer, tons of it, mix it with Hibiscus, drown the land with the red liquor. Hathur/ Sekhmet thought the red flood to be the blood of humans. Driven by blood thirst, she started gulping & gulping till she got herself completely drunk. (she changed from cow to lioness, earrings were placed in her ears to quieten her, that is why she is the Goddess of music). She fell unconscious & human lives were saved. She became thus the goddess of drinking as well.

In Noon, the ancient tale of love, anger & revenge is the present tale as well. Hathur turning from the love Goddess into the blood thirsty death Goddess & back into the life giving force of love is a reflection of our life trips. The journey into the dark frightening temple gives meaning to our existence & offers us the strength necessary for surviving the waves of ugliness & injustice roaring in our world. These are some of the thoughts that run through the world of Noon (the Arabic letter that looks like a crescent, an incomplete circle, the hieroglyphic letter that takes the shape of sea waves, the name of the goddess of the eternal waters from where the world had first sprung into existence). Some people make their way up the priesthood ladder, some, though stumbling, continue & some quit. But Noon, while raising questions crisscrossing time & geography, reiterates the novelist's belief & that of many others that "magic is still present in our world". Magic, our ability to transform our "selves" & our world, our ability to shake off social & political falsities, reclaim the lost history & pursue the struggle for our freedom & the freedom of others, is an inner state equivalent to priesthood in its most ancient sense. Something we all possess, but simply need to remember.