The literary life of Cairo
Subtitle: one hundred years in the heart of the city
By: edited and introduced by Samia Mehrez
Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cairo; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 433
ISBN-13: 9789774163906
Subjects: Social life and customs; In literature
Description: Readings from literary works that re-construct a century of Cairo's changing social life. Unlike The Literary Atlas of Cairo, which focuses on the literary geopolitics of the cityscape, this companion volume immerses the reader in the complex network of socioeconomic and cultural lives in the city. The seven chapters first introduce the reader to representations of some of Cairo's prominent profiles, both political and cultural, and their impact on the city's literary geography, before presenting a spectrum of readings of the city by its multiethnic, multinational, and multilingual writers across class, gender, and generation. Daunting images of colonial school experiences and startling contrasts of postcolonial educational realities are revealed, while Cairo's moments of political participation and oppression are illustrated, as well as the space accorded to women within the city across history and class. The city's marginals are placed on its literary map, alongside representations of the relationship between writing and drugs, and the places, paraphernalia, and products of the drug world across class and time. Together, The Literary Atlas of Cairo and The Literary Life of Cairo produce a literary geography of Cairo that goes beyond the representation of space in literature to reconstruct the complex network of human relationships in that space.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 427-[430]) and index.