How Ihsan Abdel Quddous’s ‘The Bullet Is Still in My Pocket’ Connects to the October War

Ihsan Abdel Quddous’s novel “The Bullet Is Still in My Pocket” is part of the literary conversation surrounding Egypt’s October War victories and the journey to reclaim land after the 1967 war.

That connection reflects a broader effort by writers to document not only the struggle on the battlefield, but also the feelings and dreams of Egyptian soldiers. Literature offered a way to explore the human experience behind the military effort.

The remembrance of soldiers’ heroism also extended to cinema, bringing stories of war and the hope of recovering lost territory to audiences beyond the written page. Together, these forms helped carry the experience of conflict into cultural life.

Revisiting Abdel Quddous’s novel in the context of October therefore places it within a wider tradition of wartime storytelling: one concerned with the soldiers themselves, as well as the national struggle in which they took part.