Cover -- Biography -- Transliteration Notes -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Contents -- Introduction -- Scope, Rationale and Aims -- Research and Methodological Contexts -- Organization of the Book -- Chapter 1: The Triumph of the Muzzled -- A Mirror of Mutations and Syncretisms -- Denouncing the Postcolonial Socio-Political Malaise -- Female Character as an 'Agent de Rupture' -- Chapter 2: Representation of the Subaltern and Importance of Community -- Naissance of Year of the Elephant -- The Representation of the Subaltern -- Leila Abouzeid's Sense of Identity -- The Community's Restorative Potential -- Conclusion -- hapter 3: Is Every Woman's Name a 'Wound'? -- Oppression in A Sister to Scheherazade -- Defiance and Self-Affirmation -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4: Women's Life-Writing -- Place and Displacement -- Maternal Linkages and Female Solidarity -- Class, Society and Archaism -- The Difficulty of Developing a Positive Self-Image -- Expressing the Self -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Glossary -- Index.