''Galerie 68'' was an

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

literary magazine which was headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. The magazine existed in the period 1968–1971 with a one-year interruption and produced a total of eight issues.

History and profile

''Galerie 68'' was founded in Cairo by a group of ten Egyptian artists, including

Ahmed Morsi Ahmed Morsi (born 1930) is an Egyptian artist, art critic and poet. Early life and education Morsi was born in the coastal city Alexandria, Egypt, in 1930. In 1954, he graduated from the University of Alexandria, Faculty of Arts with a major in ...

and Edwar Al Kharrat. The other figures linked to the magazine were Bahaa Taher, Sonallah Ibrahim,

Ibrahim Aslan Ibrahim Aslan (1935 – 7 January 2012) (Arabic:إبراهيم أصلان) was a famous Egyptian novelist and short story writer. Biography and work Aslan was born in Tanta in the Nile delta in 1935, shortly before his family moved south to Cair ...

and Yahya Taher Abdullah. The first issue was dated May–June 1968. Morsi was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

in the early issues, but later assumed the role of artistic editor and supervisor. It frequently featured short stories, and each issue was controlled by the Ministry of Culture. Ahmed Morsi reports that two ministers,

Tharwat Okasha Tharwat Okasha (Also spelt Sarwat Okasha, ar, ثروت عكاشة; 1921–27 February 2012) was an Egyptian writer, translator and influential minister of culture during the Nasserite era, and is known as the "founder of Egypt's cultural institut ...

and

Badr Al Din Abu Ghazi Badr Al Din Abu Ghazi (1920–1983) was an Egyptian art critic and writer who served as the minister of culture between 1970 and 1971. Biography Abu Ghazi was born in 1920. He was a nephew of the leading Egyptian sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar. Abu G ...

, were very flexible and tolerant about the content of the magazine. However, later the license of the magazine was revoked by the ministry in 1970. Although the publication resumed, it folded in 1971 after publishing eight issues. Of its ten founders only Ahmed Morsi continued to work for the magazine until the last issue.

Mission and content

''Galerie 68'' was started as a protest over the defeat of Egypt in the war against Israel in 1967. However, it did not function as a political organ. Instead, the magazine was a publishing platform for those whose writings and work were not accepted for publication in the mainstream magazines. In addition, ''Galerie 68'' was a forum for experimental literary forms. The founders of the magazine declared that it would not follow the established literary genres. Therefore, it did not support two dominant literary approaches in Egypt at that period: namely, the

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

adopted by

Ihsan Abdel Quddous Ihsan Abdel Quddous ( arz, إحسان عبد القدوس ', ) (1 January 1919 – 12 January 1990) was an Egyptian writer, novelist, and journalist and editor in Egypt's '' Al Akhbar'' and ''Al-Ahram'' newspapers. He wrote many novels that ...

and Abdel Halim Abdellah and the

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

represented mainly by

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

and

Yusuf Idris Yusuf Idris, also Yusif Idris ( ar, يوسف إدريس) (May 19, 1927 – August 1, 1991) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels. Biography Idris was born in Faqous. He originally trained to be a doctor, studying at the U ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galerie 68 1968 establishments in Egypt 1971 disestablishments in Egypt Arabic-language magazines Avant-garde magazines Censorship in Egypt Defunct literary magazines published in Egypt Magazines established in 1968 Magazines disestablished in 1971 Magazines published in Cairo