Interest in studying the political perspective of John
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939) has always been shown in
previous studies of Steinbeck's work,' but no previous study has
linked it with A R. Sharkawi's Egyptian Earth (1954), a novel
sharing the same theme. This study attempts to compare the two
novels from a political perspective. Irving Howe contends that a
political novel is:
a novel in which Ive take to be dominant
political ideas or the political milieu, a
novel which permits this assumption
without thereby suffering any radical
distortion and, it follows, with the
possibility of some analytical profit. 2
is a novel in which ideas and ideology take the centre stage in the
perspective of observation of the author. Both novels focus on the idea
that the loss of land leads to a loss of dignity. The peasant for
Sharkawi represents the Egyptian persona and stands for Egypt as a
nation and a country. The Oklahoma farm labourers represent the
honourable hardworking Americans and offer an 'objective
correlative' for the American dream. Both writers upheld ideology
over art in their novels. Thus the narrative technique is sacrificed to
project ideology. In both works, art is encumbered by and sacrificed to
ideology. This study tries to discuss these points and ~o show how far
the two writers presented t~eir material.
AR. Sharkawi (1920-1987) established his fa
interest he had in portra' in his war e life
Fellahin or the Egypti peas t workers.
(AI-Ardh), p in Arabic in 1
translation Desmond Stewart in 1962, is his es 1
interest. re is much in the novel that could be compar
American counterpart by John Steinbeck (1902- 1968), his
opus, The Grapes of Wrath in which he depicted the life of roan
immigrant farm labourers and their suffering during the depression