ABSTRACT
Writing women’s autobiographies in a country like Yemen remains huge challenge considering that the Yemeni tradition limits the space of women, particularly the literary space. The two Yemeni novelists, Shatha al-Khateeb and Nadia al-Kawkabani, in this regard, challenged such traditions and started writing on the women’s identity and their situational positions in Yemeni society. Al-Khateeb lives in Saudi Arabia and went to Jordan for pursuing her studies at al-Batra’a University for women. Al-Khateeb uses narrative to depict not only her story but also the story of all women who leave their conservative society. Al-Kawkabani illustrates the need for re-examining and re-evaluating the past political history during and after revolution in Yemen. Yemeni women’s writings guide us to fathom and critically study their cultural positions. Al-Khateeb presents two sides of a woman’s life, the social life and scientific life. Living in a radical and severely patriarchal society like Saudi Arabia, al-Khateeb avoided talking about the political role and life of women.
