OPPORTUNISM AS ELUSIVELY GOVERNING REALITY IN FATHY GHANEM’S THE MAN WHO LOST HI

Thematic ConcernsIt is Barthes, who says [that] "to read a narrative is not to pass from one word to another, it is also to pass from one level to another" (1).However, in Ghanem's case, only one level obtains.It is that of formal language.To start talking of the narrative details, it is quite obvious that in The Man Who Lost His Shadow, the author isolates four overlapping characters for our inspection, with each character telling his own story.However, each one's life is shown to be organically dovetailed with those of the others.Thus, we have Mabruka, a peasant girl who comes to Cairo to serve Rateb Bey's family, Samia, who announces that she has "something more important than talent-beauty" (p.47), Muhammad Nagi, who introduces himself as "the most illustrious journalist and writer in the Arab world" (p.179), and finally, the elusive Yusif, who is always there at the background of other characters.Ghanem's narrative opens with Mabruka, who starts lashing at Yusif, her "husband's son by his first wife" right in the second paragraph of her personal account:My only emotion now is hatred -hatred for one whose death I dream of -a slow lingering death with plenty of pain.I would like to knifeopen his belly, pull out his liver and grind it with my teeth.I would gorge out his eyes, or drink his blood.The man is Yusif Abdul Hameed, my husband's son by his first wife.(Ghanem, p.9).While working at Rateb Bey's house, she observes Suad-Yousif close relationship.Suad is the daughter of Rateb Bey and Midhat's sister.On one occasion, she has seen Yousif planting "quick kiss on her forehead while Suad sat motionless" (Ghanem, p.15).As the narrative events unfold, we are made to feel the tense relation between Mabruka and Yusif.Thus, on more than one occasion, Yusif tries to evade her though she has become a widow after the death of Abdul Hamid Effendi, Yusif's father.Yusif frankly confesses on one occasion, that nothing connects him to her: She was Mabruka I was Yusif.She was a maid working in someone's house.I was the son of a school master.She was a peasant from the country.I was from Cairo.We had nothing in common.Nothing but the link of coincidence.(Ghanem, p.263)This disengaging verbal comparison attests to Booth's suggestion that "the author is present in every speech given by the character."(2)Mabruka whose life deteriorates ends by being sheltered with her child, Yusif's half-brother, by Showki, a communist and a photographer ['illustrator'] at Al-Ayyam, a newspaper.Both are shown to indulge in sex.This is how a sexy Mabruka reveals her fiery passion with Showki: