ZANOUBA

Zanouba ($39.95; paper $14.95; Jan. 15, 1997; 224 pp.; 0-8156-2718-1; paper 0-8156-0408-4): A portrayal of life in a late-19th-century harem, rich in descriptions of village customs, conflicts, and folklore, by a high-born Muslim author (18921968). Out el Kouloub wrote in French and possessed a rare sympathetic understanding of the lives of ignored and exploited middle- and lower-class women. Though it's neither pessimistic nor bitter, the novel is argumentative and instructional, and not especially dramatic. The title character's resigned submission to her fate is moving, but she's so clearly offered to us as a representative type that it's hard to identify fully with her. . . .