The Committee (Middle East Literature in Translation) [Hardcover]

Sun' Allah Ibrahim (Author), Charlene Constable (Translator), Mary St Germain (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This spare, swift and ultimately chilling fantasy of interrogation and persecution in contemporary Egypt suggests that all of us are controlled by forces we often have no inkling of. The novel begins with a frustrating and unexplained interview conducted by a group known simply as the Committee. A young man is forced to belly dance, drop his pants and underwear (and worse), then to name the 20th century's most important achievement. He is also asked to write "a study on the greatest contemporary Arab luminary." The young intellectual struggles to find a subject for his project, but he soon settles on a doctor with a reputation for international philanthropy. After a year has passed, the Committee appears at his apartment to inspect his progress. Just as abruptly, they depart, leaving one of their members behind to monitor the narrator's every move, until finally he is driven to murder his observer. For this crime, the Committee sentences him to a bizarre punishment worthy of Dante. In keeping with Ibrahim's reputation as the "Egyptian Kafka," the Committee is anonymous, oppressive and symbolic of familiar social forces though recent world events will prompt readers to associate it with more specific clandestine organizations. Ibrahim (The Smell of It) creates a highly claustrophobic mood with elegant descriptions and the smooth incorporation of historical detail, bringing global depth to this work. As the dark narrative proceeds, its critique of broader social madness masquerading as civilization becomes clearer and clearer, making this a provocative addition to Ibrahim's respected oeuvre.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

An unnamed narrator is brought before a shadowy committee and asked, "By which momentous event among the wars, revolutions, or inventions will our century be remembered in the future?" After only a moment of consideration, he relates the history of Coca-Cola and its effect on the world in some detail. He is then asked to talk about the Great Pyramids. Finally, he is asked to provide "a study on the greatest contemporary Arab luminary." Plunging into deep research on a man known as "The Doctor," our narrator is visited at his home by the committee, who want him to change the subject of his research. When he hedges, one of the committee members stays with him to make sure he picks a new topic. Eventually, our narrator is driven to murder, and the committee condemns him to a bizarre sentence. This powerful, thought-provoking novel offers a fascinating glimpse of the mechanics of repression worldwide. Egyptian novelist Ibrahim, a major figure in the Arab literary world, has published many novels, short stories, and other works. Recommended to all readers who place Kafka's Trial on their list of favorites. Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 166 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press; 1 edition (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815607261
• ISBN-13: 978-0815607267
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Middle Eastern > Arabic
  • #42 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > African

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joins A Distinguished Group, March 9, 2002

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Committee (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)

"The Committee", by Sun Allah Ibrahim joins the work of writers including Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The comparison that is most easily drawn is to Kafka's, "The Trial". While this may be the easiest parallel to draw it suggests this is just a variation on a theme and that would be a disservice to this book and the author.

The unnamed narrator first petitions a committee. This group is made of members we are told virtually nothing about. Our narrator only makes vague references to what a positive decision from this committee would mean to him. Whatever his goal, it must be of great value for during his first audience he is not only queried on his knowledge, his is degraded, pointlessly degraded. The similarities to other writings remain in regard to arbitrary and absolute authority; together with the perversions of thought and justice they produce. Unlike, "The Trial", there is no evidence he stands accused of anything on his initial hearing. The committee after a long delay sets for him yet another task, and when they learn of how he proceeds despite the blockades put before him, the group visits him, with a single member remaining. This shadow is the same individual who so crudely humiliated him before. The treatment again begins with the total invasion of everything that is held private for the individual, with the result that our narrator commits a crime, comes once again before the committee, and receives a surreal sentence.

Throughout this fairly brief work the narrator in his appearances before the group, and in his private thoughts often expounds on his theories with seemingly bizarre examples. What becomes bizarre is that in their way his arguments make sense, and this is after Coca-Cola, peanut farming, cigarettes, anti-depressants, and presidential elections explain his thoughts.

The sentence our anti-hero receives is described by the publisher as a new realm of satiric surrealism. Whether satiric or satanic, the ending is not one you will forget, and you may likely be drawn to read the work of other writers who wanted their subjects to stand firmly in existential space.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Speaking truth to power . . ., December 12, 2006

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Committee (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)

First off, a caveat: The editorial reviews (above) for this fine, provocative novel do the disservice of revealing its entire story like Cliff Notes. Best to avoid reading them if you prefer the pleasure of discovering a novel's storyline as it's revealed by the author.

In its 166 pages, this short novel has a lot on its mind. Readers eager to defend the benefits of unchecked globalization will no doubt take offense at the critique of its impact on lesser developed countries, including Egypt and the rest of the Arab world as represented here by Sun`Allah Ibrahim. Meanwhile, its vision of the individual overwhelmed by social and political forces beyond his understanding applies anywhere dissent is suppressed and might makes right, which can happen even in self-proclaimed "free" societies.

There is plenty of Kafka and some Orwell in these pages, and the narrator's sardonic point of view owes much surely to the author's experience as a political prisoner during the tumultuous years of revolution in his home country. One does not suffer physically and psychologically for one's ideals and look respectfully at those whose chief objectives have been to amass power and wealth at the expense of others. Readers of any political persuasion should find the ironies at the center of this book a thought-provoking challenge to whatever they believe about what it means to be an individual in a binary world where people increasingly show up as survey results, digits on spreadsheets, and numbers in headlines.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anti-Globalization meets Kafka, April 16, 2002

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A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Committee (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)

Written from 1979-81, this short novel invites immediate comparison to Kafka's "The Trial". In it, an unnamed man is summoned to appear before a mysterious and apparently powerful committee who will apparently judge him in some way-although what this actually means is left unexplained. The first theme of the tale emerges when the committee asks him, "By which momentous event among the wars, revolutions, or inventions will our century be remembered in the future?" This results in a lecture on globalism (remember this was written over 20 years ago) via a capsule history of Coca-Cola and its proliferation across the world in the years after WWII. The second theme comes forth when the committee directs him to write "a study on the greatest contemporary Arab luminary." This drives him to research a powerful and mysterious man known simply as "the Doctor," a man with fingers in every conceivable pie. Given the timing of the writing, one could well read "the Doctor" as representing Sadat's "open-door" economic policies and the entire book as a satirical attack on those policies and the figures behind them. Despite the censorious obstacles in his path, the narrator manages to start uncovering nuggets of truth about "the Doctor." Unsurprisingly, this angers the committee and he is commanded to pick another subject which leads to a surreal (and satirical) climax.