Traces: A Memoir

Gamal al-Ghitani was an Egyptian writer who trained as a carpet maker before turning his attention to writing, publishing over a dozen novels and several collections of short stories. This memoir, one of seven autobiographical notebooks written before his death, weaves together a series of vignettes in a style that mimics the uneven, discontinuous nature of memory. It captures childhood adventures, erotic awakenings, political prisoner, and reports from the battlefront in Iraq and the corridors of power in Syria.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 278 pages
Publication date: 10 April 2020
Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press

One of Egypt's most renowned contemporary writers, Gamal al-Ghitani (1945-2015), hailed from a modest background in the Egyptian countryside. Before delving into writing, he trained as a carpet maker, eventually publishing over a dozen novels and numerous collections of short stories. This poignant memoir, one of seven autobiographical notebooks penned before Ghitani's passing, weaves together a series of vignettes in a style that mimics the fragmented and discontinuous nature of memory itself. These fragments, or traces, are drawn from across the span of a singular lifetime, encompassing Ghitani's rural upbringing in Upper Egypt, his journey to Cairo, his experiences in the Arab world, and beyond. The reader is transported to his childhood adventures, his erotic awakenings, his time as a political prisoner, and his reports from the battlefront in Iraq and the corridors of power in Syria. Vivid passages evoke fleeting glimpses of strangers through car windows, the lingering flavors and scents of delicacies he still savored, dreams and sorrows of neighbors in the apartment blocks of Cairo before Nasser, as well as recollections of chance conversations at points of transit, in cafés, and on elegant streets, and trysts with unnamed paramours. These memories, coupled with Ghitani's musings on memory's finitude and mutability, make Traces a memoir that doubles as a meditation on memory itself, encompassing its enigmatic workings and inevitable betrayals.

Weight: 384g
Dimension: 221 x 228 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789774169533