{"product_id":"the-rainbow-dance-sherif-meleka-9798280074040","title":"The Rainbow Dance: Novel","description":"\u003cb\u003eViolet, blue, indigo, green, yellow, orange, red...\u003c\/b\u003e Thus unfold the colors of the spectrum when refracted through a prism in the laboratory-just as they do across the pages of this remarkable novel, the latest creation of the physician-writer Dr. Sherif Meleka in his North American exile.\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003cb\u003erainbow\u003c\/b\u003e serves as the novel's central poetic metaphor, binding these diverse lives into a single orbit. At the heart of the narrative is a \u003cb\u003emasquerade ball\u003c\/b\u003e (consider Bakhtin's insights on the carnival), held on \u003cb\u003eAmerican Independence Day\u003c\/b\u003e, an event reminiscent of the party thrown by Mrs. Dalloway in Virginia Woolf's novel. Here, the characters don historical and literary masks that reflect their inner psyches and intellectual inclinations: the narrator, Murad Sabry, transforms into Hercule Poirot; Salwa becomes Marie Antoinette; Emile, Napoleon; Laila, Shajarat al-Durr; Labib, a pirate; Tarek, Elton John; and Maya, Cleopatra.\u003cbr\u003eWithin these pages, the reader will find searing examinations of \u003cb\u003ejealousy, repressed love, same-sex desire, incest, child predation, and religious fundamentalism\u003c\/b\u003e. The characters are rendered with striking depth and precision-note, in particular, the author's masterful portrayal of the musician \u003cb\u003eLabib Sorour\u003c\/b\u003e. The novel is further enriched by intertextual echoes of \u003cb\u003eKawabata, the Bible, the Quran, the Complaints of the Eloquent Peasant\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003ethe Papyrus of Ani\u003c\/b\u003e. Its title is drawn from a painting by the French Impressionist \u003cb\u003eEdgar Degas\u003c\/b\u003e, a close friend of the Symbolist poet \u003cb\u003eMallarmé\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003eThe novel unfolds through multiple perspectives, each section titled after one of the seven colors of the spectrum, culminating in the final, blood-tinged chapter-\u003cb\u003eRed\u003c\/b\u003e-interwoven with chilling excerpts from the \u003cb\u003eBook of Revelation\u003c\/b\u003e. This technique, familiar from works such as \u003cb\u003eDurrell's Alexandria Quartet, Fathi Ghanem's \u003ci\u003ethe Man Who Lost His Shadow\u003c\/i\u003e, Naguib Mahfouz's \u003ci\u003eMiramar\u003c\/i\u003e, Suleiman Fayyad's \u003ci\u003eVoices\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eMohamed Gibril's \u003ci\u003eConfessions of Secrets\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, takes on new dimensions here, shedding light on the cultural conflicts and convergences among the characters. The novel's structure evokes a crossroads, where diverging paths lead its protagonists in opposite directions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sherif Meleka\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798280074040\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 172\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.52lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.40d","brand":"Sherif Meleka","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48851011141887,"sku":"9798280074040","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-rainbow-dance-sherif-meleka-9798280074040","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}