A nuanced understanding of literary imaginings of masculinity and femininity in the Egyptian novelGender studies in Arabic literature have become equated with women s writing leaving aside the possibility of a radical rethinking of the Arabic literary canon and Arab cultural history While the woman question in the Arabic novel has received considerable attention the male question has gone largely unnoticed Now Hoda Elsadda bucks that trend Foregrounding voices that have been marginalised alongside canonical works she engages with new directions in the novel tradition Sheds new light on key debates including The project of nation building in the modern periodThe process of inclusion and exclusion in canon formationThe geopolitics of definitions of national or cultural identity in the global worldThe conceptual discourses on gender and nationThe meaning of national identity in a global context