Book Reveals Harsh Reality of Arabic Women

By Chung Ah-young

Staff Reporter

Arabic modern literature has been rarely introduced into Korean publications due to the lack of common values and its exotic background.

But ``The Golden Chariot,'' which has been recently published in Korean translated directly from Arabic, is drawing attention as it focuses on the Arabic women's lives under a male-dominated society.

Written by Salwa Bakr, one of Egypt's most respected novelists and short story writers, the book uses Arabic literary values weaving tales together into a contemporary ``Arabian Nights.''

Bakr, also known as a feminist, who visited Korea to attend a Korea-Arab literature forum from Nov. 17 to 18, said that she wants to