The Open Door

Latifa al-Zayyat (1923-96) struggled all her life to uphold just causes-national integrity, the welfare of the poor, human rights, freedom of expression, and the rejection of all forms of imperialist hegemony. As a professor of English literature at Ain Shams University, her critical output was no less prolific than her creative writing, but the creative, academic, and political strands of her personality were interwoven. The Open Door is generally recognized as her magnum opus. Marilyn Booth has translated works by Hoda Barakat, Nawal El Saadawi, Hassan Daoud, and many other Arab writers. She is Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Professor in the Study of the Contemporary Arab World in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University.