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Soueif’s The Map of Love: A Postmodernist Perspective

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The 6th International Conference on Linguistics, Literature and Translation
Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan

Soueif’s The Map of Love:

A Postmodernist Perspective
Dr. Muna Abd-Rabbo
Al–Zaytoonah Private University

Abstract— This paper examines Ahdaf Soueif’s The Map of Love (1999) within the framework of postmodernism. It will become
clear from the analysis of the postmodernist nuances in the novel how Soueif makes use of the inferences of cross-cultural
encounters to establish a form of counter-discursivity. Within the hybrid space created in the novel, Soueif brings forth a variety
of voices that act upon deflating the formerly dominant discourse of colonialism. Throughout the research it will come to light
how The Map of Love is a postmodernist, polyphonic novel that exhibits a multiplicity of narratives, voices and discourses. The
voice of the colonized is brought to the forefront in order to undermine the dominant colonial discourse of the British. The
discourses of history, colonialism, post colonialism, imperialism, Orientalism, feminism and even linguistics all combine to convey
the fluctuating reality of Egypt before and after colonization as well as the flux nature of the self / other relations.

Keywords—: Soueif, The Map of Love, hybridity, colonialism, post colonialism, discourse, counter-discourse
fragmentation and discontinuity (especially in
Ahdaf Soueif’s narrative structures), ambiguity, simultaneity,
The Map of Love: A Postmodernist Perspective and an emphasis on the destructured,
decentered, dehumanized subject.
The Map of Love (1999), by Ahdaf Soueif exhibits
a variety of postmodernist aspects such as the use of Philip Rice shows how postmodernists see knowledge of
multiple narratives and narrators, intertextuality, mixing the world as inseparable from living in and experiencing
genres and discourses, temporal distortion, diversity in the world. “Knowledge and experience are inextricably
languages, metafiction, mini-narratives versus bound to each other and culturally situated…We live in a
metanarratives and the inclusion of themes dealing with pluralized culture surrounded by a multiplicity of styles,
hybridity, multiplicity and inconsistent identity. Soueif knowledges, stories that we tell ourselves about the
interweaves journal entries, letters and trinkets from the world….The relativisation of styles which is
nineteenth century with twentieth century narratives. The postmodernism, throws into doubt the claims of any one
novel features both third-person omniscient and first-person discourse or story to be offering the ‘truth about the world
narrations of the thoughts and actions of the characters as or an authoritative version of the real” (p. 308).
well as a portrayal of national and international political
events in the past and the present. This paper gives a brief Postmodernsm in The Map of Love
outline of postmodernism in order to highlight the Soueif structures the postmodernist themes of
postmodernist traits as they appear in The Map of Love. multi-culturalism and cultural interplay in her novel around
Postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is two main narratives: the first concerns Englishwoman Anna
little agreement on its precise characteristics, scope, and Winterbourne's hybrid marriage to the Egyptian nationalist
significance. Mary Klages defines postmodernism in the Sharif Basha Al-Baroudi in the nineteenth and early
following manner: twentieth centuries; the second concerns American Isabel
Postmodernism is a complicated term, or set Parkman's intercultural romance with the Arab-American
of ideas, one that has only emerged as an area composer Omar al-Ghamrawi in 1997. By utilizing these
of academic study since the mid-1980s. cross-cultural relationships with all the narratives and
Postmodernism is hard to define, because it is disparate voices circulating within them, Soueif attempts to
a concept that appears in a wide variety of deconstruct the authoritative discourse of colonialism of the
disciplines or areas of study….Postmodernism past and to address the lingering distorted image of the
follows similar ideas to modernism, rejecting Oriental in the eyes of the West today.
boundaries between high and low forms of art, The various mini-narratives embedded within the
rejecting rigid genre distinctions, emphasizing two hybridized encounters of the past and present are
pastiche, parody, bricolage, irony, and woven together by the means of an old trunk containing
playfulness. Postmodern art (and thought) journals, letters and trinkets from the past narrative that
favors reflexivity and self-consciousness, come to be of vital significance in the present one. Isabel

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inherits this trunk then she and Omar’s sister Amal begin to aspirations” because, in his opinion, “that is the legitimate
piece together the tale of the past. The trunk acts as a map commerce of humanity” (Ibid, p: 484). Such forms of
that helps the contemporary characters trace their joint positive cultural borrowings underscore the notion of the
ancestry. As details of the past become unraveled in the inevitable hybridization of modern societies. He ends his
present, it comes to light that Isabel, Omar and Amal are letter with an appeal to the people of the world to establish
distant cousins joined by Anna Winterbourne who is both a “unity of conscience” which might actually be an
Isabel’s great-grandmother and the great-aunt of Omar and extension of Soueif’s multicultural mezzaterra 1.
Amal. Such an intertwined, hybrid family tree sets the Similarly to Sharif, Anna is presented as a
scene for Soueif to explore the possibilities and pitfalls of psychologically hybridized individual even before reaching
hybridity as well as the inevitably interconnected, the Middle East while she is still married to her first
hybridized histories of the East and West. In the midst of all husband, Colonel Edward Winterbourne of the British
this hybridity, Soueif makes use of polyphony and imperial army. She is deeply influenced by the anti-
heteroglossia as a means of counter-discursivity wherein imperialist opinions of her father-in-law, Charles
the plurality of the hybridized voices in the diverse Winterbourne. Furthermore, she is able to describe the
narratives act to decentralize the forces of British atrocities committed in the name of imperialism that the
colonialism and Western racialized representations of the British committed in the Sudan. After Edward returns from
Eastern other. his ‘mission’ in the Sudan, Anna describes his deeply
Intercultural interactions both at the personal as deteriorated state. He is sick at heart and becomes
well as the political levels lie at the core of the past tale physically ill because of what he had to do in the Sudan.
revolving around the cross-cultural marriage between Later Anna finds out that Kitchener’s men had killed
Sharif and Anna. These two characters are established as 11,000 Dervishes in cold blood
hybridized individuals even before getting married. Sharif Further hybridization occurs in Anna’s psyche
is a Westernized Egyptian of Turkish descent and, as Anna first, due to her move from England to Egypt after
once describes him, is“…not an Arab…Not properly” (p: Edward’s death then through her hybrid marriage to Sharif.
154). He has travelled on numerous occasions to Europe One could argue that the hybridity of her narrative arises
and is influenced by Western thought, especially with from her portrayal of the voice of the colonizer as well as
regard to democracy, human rights, freedom of expression that of the colonized other. Anna brings forth the voice of
and education. Nonetheless, Sharif is by no means what the the British occupier while she is in London then later in
British colonizers refer to as an ‘Anglophile’, an Egyptian Egypt as she sits in on several debates regarding the
who assumes the image of the other that the colonizer has religion and nationality of Egyptians. Clinton Bennett
inscribed for him. On more than one occasion, he electively (2005) draws attention to an early scene on page 13 that
appropriates the traits and discourse of the British colonizer takes place in London wherein Anna sits privy to a
to aid him in his nationalistic project for Egyptian discussion between some older Englishmen and some
independence. This is especially apparent in the letter he younger ones regarding the right of ‘savage’ nations to
publishes wherein he expresses severe criticism of the exist. The older generation firmly believes that these less
colonizer. advanced nations need more sophisticated countries like
This letter, which could easily have been taken Britain to “act as imperial guardians” 2 (p: 61). Even Anna
from Said’s Orientalism (1978), defines him as a defiant
anti-colonialist. In the letter, Sharif does not simply repeat
1
the words of Orientalist and imperialist discourses and According to Ahdaf Soueif , the mezzaterra is “ a territory
remain a silenced other. He talks back to the colonizer as he imagined, created even, by Arab thinkers and reformers starting in
poses the question: “What of us Orientals?” Soueif, through the middle of the nineteenth century when Muhammad Ali Pasha
Sharif’s voice, reminds Westerners that Egypt had a rich of Egypt first sent students to the West and they came back
inspired by the best of what they saw on offer. Generations of
history and civilization long before the arrival of the
Arabs protected it through the dark time of colonialism”. (Soueif,
colonizer and even before the West had any civilization of qtd. in Mahjoub 2009, p: 57)
its own. In this letter, Sharif does not fall back upon the
previous glory of the Arab world. He acknowledges his 2
Such a superior stance towards the Oriental echoes Said in
people’s faults and the appeals of modern western Orientalism wherein he discusses historical comments by western
civilization by noting how some people in the East have figures such as Arthur James Balfour, Lord Cromer, Napoleon,
been so mesmerized by the advances in western civilization Chaucer, Shakespeare, Byron, Henry Kissinger, Dante and others
that they have become like “ a man who stands lost in in order to show how Orientalism started and how the Oriental
admiration at the gun that is raised to shoot him” (Soueif, became portrayed as the inferior other. Said points out two great
1999, p: 483). themes that dominate Balfour’s speech: knowledge and power. To
Furthermore, Sharif argues that he and many other have a knowledge of a thing is to dominate it and have authority
Easterners have visited Western countries and taken over it (Orientalism, p. 32) Balfour justifies the British occupation
“elements that most suited [their] history…traditions and of Egypt based on ‘our’ knowledge of it. Egypt is what England
knows. It cannot have a self-government (p. 34). Orientals are a

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echoes these colonial thoughts in a conversation with her missionary named Temple Gairdner who talks about
friend Caroline Bourke. Anna asks Caroline what the “converting Mohammedans”3 in Cairo. Mrs. Butcher, one
British had done in the Sudan besides “restoring order” of the British women living in Cairo points out how the
(Soueif, 1999, p: 31). However, even before going to convert stands to lose everything and Lady Anne asks why
Egypt, Anna begins to doubt the integrity of England’s it is necessary to make a Moslem embrace Christianity
actions in its colonies. In the same entry she states “I am since the Moslem is a believer. This division of opinions
afraid we are in the grip of something evil” (Ibid). After amongst the British extends to the question of Egyptian
witnessing her husband’s emotional annihilation that is national character. Most of the British characters refer to
brought on by his actions in the Sudan, Anna begins to the Egyptians as natives, and on one occasion Mr Sladen
question the colonial discourse that she has been exposed who is writing a book on Egypt claims that “there is no
to. such thing as an Egyptian…it is only the Copts who can lay
The whole notion of the colonialist mindset can claim to being descendants of the Ancients…For all the
fall under the heading of what the French postmodernist Mohammedans, they are Arabs and are to be found in
Francois Lyotard dubs “metanarrative”. Lyotard believes Egypt through relatively recent historical circumstances”
that totality, stability, and order are upheld in modern (Soueif, 1999, p: 98). The colonialist tries to erase the very
societies through the means of "grand narratives" or identity of the colonized by citing murky historical
"master narratives," or culture-specific stories. references4. Mrs. Butcher, once again, argues for the
Postmodernism rejects grand narratives and favors "mini- Egyptian by mentioning that the British could be blamed
narratives," stories that explain small practices, local for ignoring the historical and spiritual life of this nation
events, rather than large-scale universal or global concepts. that is under its rule. This division in the views of the
Postmodern "mini-narratives" are always “situational, British reconstructs the traditional formulaic portrayal of
provisional, contingent, and temporary, making no claim to the colonizer in postcolonial literature. Through the
universality, truth, reason, or stability” (Klages). juxtaposition of split points of view amongst the British
Soueif makes use of the postmodernist notion of mini colonizers themselves regarding the identity of the
narratives in order to deconstruct the prevailing, colonized Egyptian, Soueif decentralizes the imperialist
overarching colonial views. By presenting the reader with a discourse and dismantles their claims of ‘civilizing native
variety of stories of individuals as they struggle with the savages’.
conditions of colonialism and post colonialism, she After her marriage to Sharif, Anna is cut off from
succeeds in breaking down the boundaries of the public and British society; however, as far as Egyptian society is
the private, the colonizer and the colonized. Catherine concerned she becomes an insider. Now she is in a position
Wynne (2006) argues that the section of the novel between to voice the sentiments of the colonized. In a letter to
Anna and her first husband “not only establishes an anti- England Anna explains that,
imperialist theme in terms of politics but also domesticates in addition to heated disagreements between
it as the sins of the empire return to haunt the British home” those advocating immediate withdrawal of the
(p: 57). The mini-narrative between Anna and Edward British and those proposing a gradual
serves to undercut the overarching imperialist narrative; dismantling of British rule, there are a host of
Edward’s mental deterioration reveals the malicious other divisions: People who would have
intentions of the British in the colonies. tolerated the establishment of secular education,
Upon arriving in Egypt, Anna continues to bring or the gradual disappearance of the veil fight
forth the voice of the British colonizer as she meets with these developments because they feel a need to
members of British society. Such voices, however, are not hold on to their traditional values in the face of
always in accordance with one another or with the the Occupation. However, the people who
dominant imperialist discourse. One instance of the continue to support these changes have
hybridized views of the British colonists is a conversation constantly to fight the suspicion that they are
in which Anna takes part pertaining to the authenticity, or
lack of Egyptian religion and national heritage. She meets a
3
According to Said, the term “Mohammedanism” represents the
subject race and need to be dominated by a superior race for their analogical method that Christian thinkers used in their attempt to
own good. Cromer expressed the idea that knowledge of subject understand Islam, albeit a flawed understanding of it: “it was
races made it easy to manage them. He opposed any sign of assumed - quite incorrectly - that Mohammed was to Islam as
Egyptian nationalism and felt that Egypt’s future “lies not in the Christ was to Christianity. Hence the polemic name
direction of narrow nationalism, but rather in that of an enlarged ‘Mohammedanism’ given to Islam, and the automatic epithet
cosmopolitanism” (qtd. in Said, p. 37). Cromer draws a distinction ‘imposter’ applied to Mohammed” (1978, p: 60). The term
between the European and Oriental minds. For him the European ‘Mohammedanism’ is a negatively hybridized one; Orientalists
is a logician and a reasoner whereas the Oriental is deficient in the appropriate Islam to Christian ideas in order to distort the image of
logical faculty (Ibid, p. 38). the other’s religion and assert further control.
4
Note: see footnote 5.

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Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan

somehow in league with the British. (Davis, The historical narrative of Anna and Sharif is not
2007) presented in a monologic, linear manner. The novel
Anna continues to hear the men’s discussions concerning continuously shifts back and forth between the past and
matters of Egyptian politics. She and her husband also present narratives, a crisscross movement which leads to
break segregation laws and entertain mixed company the hybridization of time. The links between the past tale
secretly in their home. Although Anna and Sharif succeed and the current one concerning Omar, Isabel and Amal
in establishing their own mezzaterra, their hybrid romance create a hybridized temporal / spatial sphere through which
is not wrought without various tensions. Joseph Massad Soueif draws a connection between Egypt’s colonial past
points out how their marriage is and the current distorted representations of Arab Muslims
…preserved against many odds - the ostracism to in the West.
which Anna is subjected by the English colons in The past and present narratives in this novel are
Cairo on account of her marrying an Egyptian and brought together by a number of significant instances of
the questions raised about Sharif’s nationalism by parallelism both on the personal and political planes. Emily
Egyptian nationalists on account of his marrying a Davis (2007) argues that as the contemporary characters
colonizer. (1999, p: 81) continue to “unearth the historical narrative, it becomes
The conflicts surrounding such an unconventional marriage clear that there are significant parallels--personal and
are mainly external; Anna and Sharif are both met by political--between this earlier moment and their own”. One
misgivings from their countrymen, British and Egyptian such parallelism is touched upon by Davis who explains
respectively. Inside the marriage, however, the love that because Anna and Isabel fall in love with a man active
between Sharif and Anna is strong. They practically have in nationalistic politics (Egyptian and Palestinian
no disagreements aside from one early on in the marriage respectively), both women get involved to a certain degree
concerning money which is resolved by Sharif telling with politics and adopt views that do not correspond to the
Anna, “Our ways are different. Let us be patient with one discourse of their home countries.
another” (Soueif, 1999, p: 353). This unshakeable love has As the two cross-cultural relationships develop,
left some critics unsatisfied with the supposed simplicity of the reader becomes increasingly aware of various mutual
this hybrid marriage. Maya Mirsky speaks, in particular of acts of transculturation that transpire between the characters
her disappointment in the manner that Anna so easily involved in each narrative. In this novel Soueif portrays
assimilates to her new Egyptian environment: “Westernized Egyptians as well as Westerners who are
Anna’s assimilation into Egyptian life, which she undergoing an Egyptianization” ( Leboeuf, 2012, p: 56).
accomplishes with ease, is… unbelievable. …I Such acts of ‘Egytianization’ come to light in both the past
would have believed her more if she had and present hybrid relationships. Anna and Isabel are
manifested any of the poignant difficulties of equally eager to experience the “real Egypt”, the one that
assimilation. Her desire to love everything made lies beyond the scope of the discourses of their home
me feel for her; that she is chattering with the countries. Furthermore, the two women express a strong
family, wearing traditional clothes and weaving desire to acquire a genuine understanding of Arabic
Egyptian tapestries with such gay abandon startled language and culture. Hence, it is through such instances of
me. The opportunity was missed here for the transculturation that Soueif is able to “challenge the idea
subtleties—or should I say, realities—of two that there is a unidirectional flow of culture from the West
cultures meeting. (Mirsky) to Egypt. This constitutes a conceptual strategy that
Although Mirsky raises a valid point concerning Anna’s minimizes the cultural legacy of colonialism on Egypt”
seemingly effortless transition into Egyptian high society, I (Leboeuf, 2012, p: 60). The hybrid relationships in this
disagree with the statement about the unrealistic novel exemplify a two-way encounter of transculturation. It
representation of the cross-cultural meeting. Sharif and is not only the Egyptian men in these two romances who
Anna are, after all, portrayed as in-between, hybrid appropriate characteristics of the Western other; rather,
individuals even before this marriage. Sharif is a Isabel and Anna are more than willing to acquire certain
Westernized Egyptian nationalist of an aristocratic lineage, aspects of their partner’s foreign culture without any
while Anna is an independent-minded Victorian condescension on their part5.Nevertheless, it should be
noblewoman who harbors anti-imperialistic sentiments.
Therefore, culturally-speaking, at an individual level, they 5
James Massad notes that while The Map of Love “ushers in
are not so distant from the start. That is why most of the moments of intercultural understanding and dialogue,” it still
problems surrounding the marriage are of external, not depicts the “rarity of such achievements.” Massad argues that the
internal construction. Their hybrid marriage then represents Anna and Isabel of a rare quality because “Their understanding [of
a form of counter-discursivity; it acts as one of the the other] is not necessarily based on the obliteration of radical
centrifugal forces that destabilize the centripetal alterity and transformation of the other into an approximation of
representation of East /West, self / other dichotomies. the self (as is the case with many Western do-gooders); rather, it is
based on understanding the other on the other’s own terms” (1999,
p: 80).

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noted here that Soueif portrays transculturation as a much not end with the departure of the occupiers; its effects
easier process for Egyptians with upper-class, Westernized linger on within the folds of imperialism:
background than for those from the lower-classes. In our time, direct colonialism has largely ended;
The acts of transculturation in both the past and imperialism…lingers where it has always
present narratives in The Map of love serve to further the been, in a kind of general cultural sphere as well as
parallelism between these two narratives. Parallelism, in specific political, ideological, economic
however, is not restricted to the private, individual sphere and social practices. (Said, 1993, p: 8)
but rather extends to the political. One case in point in The future merges with the interconnection of past and
relation to political parallelism is when Amal, the main present; in Soueif’s novel the future for those who inherit
narrator of the present narrative makes a direct association their distant relatives’ colonial past is an uncertain and
between the past British colonizers and present American unresolved one.
officials living in Egypt: Similarly to their ancestors, Omar and Isabel, the
It must be hard to come to a country so different, a two protagonists of the contemporary hybrid romance are
people so different, to take control and insist that portrayed as hybrid individuals before starting their
everything be done your way….I read the memoirs of these relationship. Omar is an American-Arab music composer of
long-gone Englishmen, and I think of the mixed Egyptian / Palestinian descent, who does not “have
American embassy officials and agencies today, driving a problem with identity” (Soueif, 1999, p: 50). Isabel is of a
through Cairo in their locked limousines with the hybrid Egyptian / European lineage and is eager to explore
smoked-glass windows, opening their doors only her Egyptian roots while experiencing the new millennium
when they are safe inside their Marine-guarded in Cairo. Soueif utilizes this intercultural union in order to
compounds. (Soueif, 1999, p: 70) delve into contemporary Arab / Western relations,
Soueif draws upon the two hybridized narratives of the past specifically with regard to the West’s distorted
and present to draw parallels between Egypt’s colonial past representation of Arab Muslims. Moreover, she takes
and today’s East / West relations. While the British advantage of Omar’s Palestinian connection to shed light
colonizers took control of the Egypt under the pretense of on relevance of the colonial
bringing ‘civilization’ to the inferior, third-world project in relation to the contemporary Palestinian
inhabitants, modern day Americans set up their marine- question6.
guarded compound under the guise of spreading Western portrayal of the Eastern other comes to
‘democracy’ in the Middle-East. light once again as the relationship between Omar and
This juxtaposition of past and present comes under Isabel progresses. After seeing Omar speak to a bearded
the heading of temporal distortion, an important young Arab student, she asks him if he is connected to
characteristic of postmodernism. Sabina D’Alessandro “fundamentalists”, a twisted media euphemism for
(2009) refers to Edward Said’s delineation of past and terrorists. Such a question leads to the following
present in her interpretation of Soueif’s novel. According to conversation wherein Soueif uses intentional hybridity to
Said, parody the Western media’s depiction of Arab Muslims:
Appeals to the past are amongst the commonest
strategies in interpretation of the present. What “ ‘What fundamentalists?’ he [Omar] asked.
animates such appeal is not only disagreement ‘I don’t know. Hamas, or Hizbollah. Or in Egypt.’
about what happened in the past and what the past ‘You should get your fundamentalists sorted - ’
was, but uncertainty whether the past is really past, ‘But is it true?’
and concluded, or whether it continues, albeit in ‘Do I look like a fundamentalist? Act like a fundamentalist?
different forms, perhaps. (Said, 1993, p: 3) ‘No. But that is what they say about you.’” (Soueif, 1999,
Soueif places the two tales of hybridity that move across p: 178)’
time and space to illustrate the extent of the impact that
colonialism has on modern times. Soueif “compares
contemporary events with those from the distant family 6
past, via a bi-partite time structure” (D’Alessandro, 2009, In an interview with Joseph Massad, Soueif explains the
importance of the Palestinian question for her personally and as a
p: 7). The past and present are inseparable; one is essential determining factor in Middle-Eastern / Western relations: “For
in the comprehension of the other. me, I grew up in Nasir’s Egypt and the Palestinian issue was
Soueif’s various temporal models in The Map of central to the national project that was being dreamed of and, we
Love combine the colonial and postcolonial worlds; the thought, being implemented at the time…I think that Palestine
descendants of the characters, both British and Egyptian, of was constantly at the heart of our relationship with the West….In
the colonial era are still dealing with the repercussions of The Map of Love, it’s very clear that the idea of the creation of a
colonialism, especially its implications in Egypt’s cultural, Jewish homeland was part of the general colonial enterprise,
political, ideological and social spheres. As Edward Said which has been recognized for what it was, except for the case in
asserts in Culture and Imperialism (1993), colonialism does Palestine, which continues to be seen as creating a home for a
people without a home” (1999, p: 90)

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Through the narration of the developments of this hybrid and discourses thereby creating a pastiche-like formation7.
romance, Soueif counters the hegemonic representation of In a postmodrenist fashion, she combines romance with
the Oriental by Westerners in contemporary media. She travel literature, historical and political facts with fiction,
shows how the average American speaks of postcolonial theory with feminism; she includes episodes of
‘fundamentalists’ and ‘terrorists’ from a position of magic realism, references to linguistics and instances of
ignorance. That is why Omar mockingly tells Isabel to get metafiction.
her ‘fundamentalists’ straight. Furthermore, this exchange In this multi-layered narrative, Soueif includes
reveals how the image created by the press becomes a junctures wherein fiction and reality merge. One such
reality. Even though Isabel feels in her heart that Omar is hybridized, metafictional scene is when Omar finds out that
by no means a terrorist, she still harbors some suspicions he could be Isabel’s father and Amal assures him he cannot
regarding his connections to fundamentalists simply because “There’s too many coincidences in this thing
because the news tells her so. It is actually this distorted already. She finds this trunk, you meet her and it turns out
image of Arabs that had lead to the break-up of Omar’s that you’re cousins. That’s enough surely?” “What? Bad
marriage to his American wife thirty years before. They got art? Is that what you’re saying?”(Soueif, 1999, p: 361). It
a divorce after the 1967 war because, as Omar explained to seems as though the characters are critiquing the novel that
his mother at the time, they both discovered he was an they are in. Metafiction demonstrates the postmodernistic
Arab. feature of short-circuit wherein the writer tries to narrow
Politics and the personal are woven into the two the space between the fictional and the real worlds
intercultural narratives of the past and present. The In this novel, reading takes on a multiplicity of
contemporary tale brings to the fore the diverse voices of levels; on one hand the reader of the whole novel brings a
modern-day Egyptians and their views of today’s politics in plurality of viewpoints to the varying narratives in the
relation to the colonial past. These voices arise in a work. At another level, the contemporary characters give
dialogue that Amal and Isabel witness, one similar to the their own readings to the numerous entries and letters. At
debates that Anna used to engage in, but this time it is yet another level the author’s voice also intermingles with
among Egyptian intellectuals during lunch at Atelier. The the characters of the past and present narratives. In the lines
group engages in a discussion of Middle-East politics. below, Amal actually ponders upon the multi-textual nature
Arwa Salih, one of the leaders of the student movements in of the letters and journals she is reading. In an internal
the seventies, speaks of an Israeli supremacy in the region dialogue she contemplates a number of reader-related
and that this Israeli “empire” will always be backed by issues:
America. Deena, a math teacher at the university expresses Who else has read this journal? And when they
her frustration at always being in the role of the victim: read it, did they too feel that it spoke to them? For the sense
“We sit here and say they’re planning for us…and wait for of Anna speaking to me - writing it down for me - is so
what they will do next" (Soueif, 1999, p: 223). At some powerful that I find myself speaking to her in my head.
point the conversation turns to the idea of normalization (Soueif, 1999, p: 306) She wonders how many people had
with Israel. Deena states that she would put an end to this read this material before her and how it had impacted them.
normalization when its end result would be a neighbor who Moreover, Amal feels that Anna speaks to her through the
builds settlements and drives people off the land, “who has letters and journal; a dialogue takes place between the
an arsenal of nuclear weapons and screams wolf when reader, the writer and the people characterized in the
someone else is suspected of having a few missiles” (Ibid, written words. When Amal begins reading the letters and
p: 230). The recurring patterns of history follow a circular journal entries that Anna writes upon her arrival in Egypt,
movement; even though the British colonizers have left she feels that Anna writes self-consciously at first, being
Egypt, their successors, the Israelis and the Americans have influenced by the travel literature that she has read. Amal
come to continue the historical role of the Europeans’ thinks to herself, as she reads Anna’s first letter home:
control and oppression of the East. Soueif actually draws And so Anna arrives in Egypt and this, it seems is
attention to the “chameleon" quality of the colonial her first letter; a little self- conscious perhaps, a little aware
enterprise and how it keeps “changing its form to suit the of the genre - Letters from Egypt8, a Nile Voyage, More
spirit of the age” (Interview with Massad, p: 90). Through
the mixing of two timeframes in this novel, Soueif succeeds 7
While the hybridity of The Map of Love arises from the
in establishing various points of correspondence between combination of romance and travel literature, the hybridity in
the current world and the past one. In the preceding Soueif’s first novel, In the Eye of the Sun results from placing “the
exchange of voices above, she reveals how the root of all European romantic tradition of Bildungsroman” within an Arabic
the violence and turmoil in today’s Middle-East lies in its mould (Massad, 1999, p: 75).
8
colonial past. Letters from Egypt (1865) are the published correspondences of
In The Map of Love, an interdependence of Lady Lucie Duff Gordon, one of the British female travelers of the
literary and non-literary works transpires in t wherein nineteenth century who moved to Egypt in 1862 in an attempt to
Soueif pieces together a variety of past and present genres recover from consumption. Despite Gordon’s immersion in
Egyptian life, there was a limit to her tolerance of intercultural

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Letters from Egypt…Perhaps she was thinking of future complex textual network of this novel is one example of
publication…I forgive her mannered magic realism. Isabel’s experience in the shrine seems to
approach….What else does she know - yet? (Soueif, 1999, have supernatural dimensions. She supposedly sees an old
p: 58) sheikh and a woman smelling of orange blossoms even
As Anastasia Valassopoulos (2004) points out, “Amal here though Amal insists that the shrine has been empty of
voices a post-colonial interpretation (or the initial reaction inhabitants for years. Other vague incidents occur when
of a post-colonial theorist researching travelogues)” (p: 41). Isabel’s clothes end up smelling of orange blossoms and
For Amal, Anna perhaps writes self-consciously, trying to when the third part of Anna’s tapestry mysteriously
follow in the tradition of travel literature as a genre. Amal reappears.
depicts Anna as a typical Western traveler to Egypt who Another form of hybridity, this time of language
wishes to chronicle her experiences for her fellow manifests itself within the novel in its diversity of language.
countrymen back home. In Amal’s opinion, such a literary Soueif integrates elements from Arabic, English and
stance is excusable because Anna still does not know Egypt French. At times the Arabic characters speak Arabic in
yet, the assumption being that Anna’s whole style and English and this results in some unique hybridized
attitude towards the Eastern other will change after she expressions such as “beautiful as the moon”, “You light the
becomes more familiar with the country and its people. village”, “I want your safety”. In an interview with Yafa
Amal draws attention to the fact that Anna most probably Shanneik (2004), Soueif describes English as a “hospitable
writes to some addressee in mind; at some point it is a letter language”; she adds that she wants to “fashion an English
to her friend Caroline or her father-in-law Sir Charles. At that will express an Arab reality”. Soueif continues to point
other times she simply jots down her own personal musings out that her Arab readers tell her that “when they read [her]
in her journals. characters’ dialogues in English they can hear it in their
Metafiction and the addressivity of the reading heads – in Arabic (Soueif qtd. In Shanneik). In another
process are not the only means that Soueif places at her interview, she discusses her ability to think in English and
disposal to hybridize reality and illusion. The intermingling Arabic at once: “Actually, when I’m doing dialogue, I sort
of fact and fiction is another method to achieve such of hear it in my head. If it’s in Arabic, I hear it in my head
hybridization as well. Soueif draws on numerous factual in Arabic while my fingers are typing it out in English…I
historical and contemporary events and figures to serve as a do have this real ‘merger’ in my head between Arabic and
backdrop for the ensuing narratives. Examples include: the English” (Massad, 1999, p: 87). The “merger” of Arabic
Entente Cordiale, Denshwai, Muhammad Abdu, Urabi, and English in Soueif’s mind translates itself into the
Boutrous Ghali, Lord Cromer, Kitchener, the Luxor hybridization of language in her novel9.
killings, the Israeli-Arab conflict…etc. Massad (1999) Mohammed Albakry and Patsy Hunter take up the
draws attention to this mixing of fact and fiction: notion of Soueif’s ‘new English’ in their 2008 article “Code
As the fictional and the real are intermingled in Switching in Ahdaf Soueif’s The Map of Love”. Her
terms of family relations and historical events, the fictional innovative approach to the English language serves to
characters become real historical figures who could very “express and simulate the multicultural experiences of her
well have existed. The Baroudis, although fictional characters. She uses code switching, particularly lexical
characters, belong to a real family. Their paternal uncle borrowing and transferring from Arabic, as a way of
Mahmoud Sami Basha al-Baroudi, in addition to being finding a ‘new English’, a language between languages” (p:
an important poet, is one of Egypt’s heroes of the ’Urabi 234). Language is culture and Soueif tries to grasp the
Revolt. (p: 81) The amalgamation of historical facts with essence of Arab life in the realistic presentation of daily
fictional events breaks the border between the real world Arabic conversations amongst members of different
and the imaginative one. Within this hybridized real / classes.
imaginary space, the reader experiences events first-hand The language stratification in Soueif’s novel
while the characters realize a high degree of authenticity. serves to highlight the individual character’s speech and
The hybridization of reality and imagination thus strengthen his / her autonomy. By including different
extends to Soueif’s brief use of magic realism. Within the languages and a variety of Arabic dialects in some English
form, Soueif succeeds in painting a more comprehensive
encounter and this red line was revealed in her reaction to the
picture of the world represented in her novel.
hybrid involvement of Sally Narldrett her English maid with
9
Omar, her Egyptian servant, a relationship that resulted in a Susan Muaddi Darraj cites a 1999 article in The Guardian
hybridized child. Gordon was appalled by such this intercultural wherein Andrew Marr expresses his shock that the finalists of that
affair and refers to the child as ‘hideous’; she sent her maid and years Booker Prize (which included Soueif for The Map of love)
the child home but kept Omar in her service. From this incident it only included writers of countries formerly colonized by England
can be inferred that even though Gordon integrates easily into who seem “to monopolize the cultural scene with their own
Arabic life, she will not “countenance the hybrid family” (Wynne, particular, postcolonial brand of English…These writers move
2006, p: 60). This intercultural relationship is touched upon briefly between two worlds, infusing their Anglophone novels with the
in The Map of Love in reference to Anna’s maid Emily. essence of their native languages and cultures” (2003, p: 91).

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In a book review on islamonline.net, Joanne

McEwan contends that Soueif literally translates certain References
Arabic expressions and transliterates others in order to
create a realistic image of Egypt and its citizens. Some of Albakry, Mohammed and Patsy Hunter (2008): Code
the literal translations cited by McEwan include ‘May your Switching in Ahdaf Soueif’s The Map of Love.
bounty have increased’, ‘May the name live long’, ‘May Language and Literature, 17 (3), 221-234.
your hands be saved’. Among some of the transliterations [electronic version]
mentioned by McEwan are marhaba (welcome), khalas Bennett, Clinton (2005), Muslims and Modernity: An
yakhti (enough my sister), alfa mabrouk (a thousand Introduction to the Issues and Debates.
congratulations), and even Amreeka instead of America. London: The Continuum International Publishing
McEwan continues to illustrate how the linguistic Group LTD.
element is not just limited to the use of colloquial Arabic. D’Alessandro, Sabina (2009), The Repositioning of Anglo-
The novel contains numerous instances of how to learn Egyptian Cultural Crossings in Ahdaf Soueif’s
Arabic. The non –Arab reader gets a quick Arabic lesson Contemporary Visual / Literary Representations.
when he / she watches Anna and Isabel try to learn the EMUNI ReS .
language. “One can sense Soueif’s own love for Classical Retrieved Jan. 14, 2013 from
Arabic as she gently schools the reader on how every
Arabic word has a root and that all words are derived and www.emuni.si/Files//Denis/EMUNI_ReS/.../Dale
conjugated from them.” ssandro.pd
Interestingly enough Soueif takes hybridization a Darraj, Susan Muaddi (2003), Narrating England and
step further by merging linguistics with feminism in the Egypt: The Hybrid fiction of Ahdaf Soueif.
scene when Isabel tries to learn the root and derivations of Studies in the Humanities. 30 (1/2), 91-107.
the word umm or ‘mother’ in Arabic. Isabel gives Amal a Davis, Emily S, (2007). Romance as political aesthetic in
list of words as follows: Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love. Genders
Umm: mother (also the top of the head) Online Journal, 45. Retrieved Dec. 24, 2012 from
Ummah: nation, hence ammama : to nationalise http://www.genders.org/g45/g45_davis.html
Amma: to lead the prayers, hence Imam: Lyotard, Jean-Francois (1984), The Postmodern
religious leader (Soueif, 1999, p: 164). Condition: A Report on Knowledge, 1987,
Isabel then comments: “So two incredibly important Trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi,
concepts…nationhood and religious leadership, come from Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
‘mother’….So how can they say that Arabic is a patriarchal Mahjoub, Jamal (2009), A Correspondence with Ahdaf
language?” (Soueif, 1999, p: 165). By focusing on this Soueif. Wasafiri (24.3)
mini-narrative between Amal and Isabel, Soueif Massad, Joseph (1999), The Politics of Desire in the
deconstructs the overarching grand narrative which Writings of Ahdaf Soueif. Journal of Palestinian
stipulates that Arabic language and, in consequence, Arab Studies. (Summer), XXVIII (4), 74-90.
society are exclusively patriarchal. McEwan, Joanne. "The Map of Love." IslamOnline.net. 17
Ahdaf Soueif’s The Map of Love is a good July 2002. Retrieved Mar. 8, 2013 from
example of the pastiche network text so favored by the http://www.islamonline.org/English/contempor
postmodernists. The map in the title is the bits and pieces of ary/2002/07/Article03.shtml>
various narratives that comprise the story. This map moves Klages, Mary. “Postmodernism”. http: /
across time and space to guide the characters in their quest www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Kl
to belong. The cross-cultural relationships of Anna and ages/pomo.html. Retrieved 22 December, 2009.
Sharif on one hand, and Isabel and Omar on the other may Mirsky, Maya (1999), The Map of Love: Short Fiction in
be manifestations of a broader cultural sought-after Anthology by Ahdaf Soueif. Rev. of The Map of
harmony. Though the English came as occupiers, they have Love by Adaf Soueif. Critique Magazine.
left their mark deeply engraved in the depths of Egyptian Retrieved Feb. 12, 2013 from http://critique-
life. As Sharif states, expressing his feelings for Anna when magazine.com/article/mapoflove.html.
he first wants to marry her, “What I know is that she has Rice, Philip & Patricia Waugh (1992), Modern Literary
entered my heart and refuses to leave” (Ibid, 280). By Theory: A Reader.2nd ed. London: Hodder &
combining the genres of romance and travel and the Stoughton.
discourses of postcolonialism and feminism, Soueif Said, Edward (1978), Orientalism, London: Penguin
succeeds in creating a unique, hybrid narrative that provides Books
her with the imaginative space to construct her mezzaterra, -------(1984), Edward Said Writes about a New Literature
a meeting place for conflicting cultures to interact without of the Arab World. London Review of Books.
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http://www.lrb.co.uk/v05/n12/edward-

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said/edward-said-writes-about-a-new-
literature-of-the-arab-world
-------(1990), Embargoed Literature. The Nation. Sept. 17,
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Soueif, Ahdaf (1999), The Map of Love, London:
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