On “The Interior Woman”

Georges Henein holds a singular place in francophone letters, in the development of surrealism, and in the relationship between the literary cultures of France and the Middle East. As a member of Egypt’s cosmopolitan intelligentsia in the early twentieth century, Henein is known as the founder of Art et Liberté, a Cairo-based artistic movement. But he was also a poet, a journalist, a champion of other artists, and a voice of deep political convictions. At home and yet an exile in both France and Egypt, Henein kept close ties with André Breton and the surrealists in Paris while cultivating and advocating for radical art in his native country.

When I lived in Cairo in my early twenties, I was fascinated by the kinds of cultural cross-pollination that Henein represents. It is a reminder of the complicated identities and lineages that inform surrealism—truly, a more global artistic groundswell than we in the West often surmise. I began working with Henein’s poems over a decade ago, motivated to translate his radical politics and stark existential vision. In “The Interior Woman,” I’ve tried to bring over the dramatic detonations of his line breaks and the juxtaposition of archetypal images that always reminds me of Magritte. I find that Georges Henein still has much to teach us today.