 | |
| Author | Fatima Mernissi |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Perseus Books |
Publication date | 1994 |
| Publication place | Morocco |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 242 (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | 0-201-48937-6 (paperback edition) |
Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood is a novel by Fatima Mernissi; the UK title has been The Harem Within: Tales of a Moroccan Girlhood. It describes her fictionalised youth in a Moroccan harem during the 1940s and explores the themes of Islamic feminism, Arab nationalism, French colonialism and the clash between the traditional and the modern. It is a fictional work, although this fact is only noted in the French version, not the English.[1]
The book centers around the harem experiences of a girl named Fatima. The women around her experience restricting patriarchal rules restricting their lives. They challenge such rules as un-Islamic,[2] and Fatima's mother ensures that Fatima gets an education. The book has been seen as challenging Orientalist stereotypes of Muslim women,[3][4] and being an example of Islamic feminist literature.[5]
- ^ Bourget, Carine. "Complicity with Orientalism in Third-World Women's Writing: Fatima Mernissi's Fictive Memoirs." Research in African Literatures 44.3 (2013): 30-49. ProQuest. 18 Feb. 2014 .
- ^ Ishaque 2018, p. 294.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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- ^ Cite error: The named reference
legacywas invoked but never defined (see the help page).