Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This thesis is a comparative study between two women{u2019}s autobiographies, namely, Samia Serageldin{u2019}s The Cairo House (2000) and Jung Chang{u2019}s Wild Swans (1991). Both women tell their life stories which cover crucial socio-political periods in the modern history of their countries, specifically, the period of Nasser{u2019}s and Sadat{u2019}s rule in Egypt as presented in Serageldin{u2019}s autobiography and China during Mao Zedong{u2019}s rule as shown in Chang{u2019}s life story. The aim of this thesis is to show that these two autobiographies can be considered historical references to the social and political life of the two autobiographers{u2019} countries, though they were written by women who generally tend to put many personal details about their private lives in their autobiographies. The critical framework of this study is New-Historicism which is known to diminish the distinction between literature and history which allows autobiography to be a valid discourse in documenting history

Issued also as CD