> >Surely an author is free to change characters' symbolic significances
>>(among other things) when he parodies another's work.
>
>Of course, but you can change it so much that you lose the "bang". I
>think that's what happened here.
You know, Trotsky is dead, and so is Trotsyism as a political force. There is no "bang" in satirizing what is dead. The object of satire has to be a living and breathing social force to reckon with.
> >>How much of the growth of Islamism is also rooted in
>>>not-necessarily-pro-American secularism and capitalism?
>
>>For that, you might look at the roots of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
>>The prison memoir of Zaynab al-Ghazali -- the founder of the Muslim Women's
>>Association who was imprisoned from 1965 to 1971 under Nasser for charges
>>of collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood -- may be an interesting read
>>in this context.
>
>Oy! Another book! I'll add it to the pile.
The prison memoir in question is called _Return of the Pharaoh: Memoir in Nasir's Prison_. There is a brief mention of the author and her photograph on this page: <http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/462/women.htm>. She is known as something of an "Islamic feminist." (On this page, her name is spelled "Zainab El-Ghazali.")
Yoshie