Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale
Journal issue | 54 | 2018
Research Article | Il Cairo: luoghi semi-ufficiali e personaggi eccentrici nei romanzi di Shalabī e Abū Julayyil
Il Cairo: luoghi semi-ufficiali e personaggi eccentrici nei romanzi di Shalabī e Abū Julayyil
Abstract
Cairo is a constantly expanding and changing megalopolis, whose residents negotiate the binary oppositions of centre/periphery, development/poverty, and local/global. This paper investigates the literary representation of the Egyptian capital in four novels by Shalabī and Abū Julayyil published between 1981 and 2008. Firstly, it overviews recent scholarship about the literary geography of Cairo. Then, it examines the narrative techniques employed by Shalabī and Abū Julayyil to portray semi-official spaces, such as historical palaces now in decline, hash dens, shantytowns, and buildings on the verge of collapse. I argue that these spaces interact with the rest of the city, while developing a highly local culture, embodied by eccentric humorous characters.
Submitted: Jan. 16, 2018 | Accepted: March 23, 2018 | Published June 25, 2018 | Language: it
Keywords Egyptian novel • Shantytowns • Humour • Old Cairo • Microcosm • Hash den • Travelogue
Copyright © 2018 Cristina Dozio. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2018/01/005
