RT Article
T1 The Living City of the Dead: Representation of Life in the Cemeteries in Two Egyptian Novels
JF Arabica
VO 67
IS 1
SP 82
OP 116
A1 Saadi, Tania al- 1974-
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2020
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1702692787
AB The City of the Dead is a large area on the periphery of Cairo where people live in house-like tombs. This study focuses on two Egyptian novels Šakāwā l-miṣrī l-faṣīḥ (1981-1985) by Yūsuf al-Qaʿīd and Madad (2014) by Maḥmūd al-Wirwārī, in which living in the cemeteries is portrayed as a paradoxical reality where life and death overlap. Limits between the two are blurred, and this creates a confusing situation where landmarks are lost and moral values are subverted. This situation echoes the characters’ personal dilemmas and the uncertain historical context in which they live. This article sheds light on the representation of life in the cemeteries and the concrete and symbolic function of this space. It also discusses this representation within the portrayal of peripheries and marginal spaces in contemporary Egyptian fiction, and explores the way the two novels—published several decades apart—use this ambivalent space to relate their respective historical realities.
K1 Arabic
K1 Cité des morts
K1 City of the Dead
K1 Egyptian
K1 égyptien
K1 Arabe
K1 Cemetery
K1 cimetière
K1 Death
K1 espace urbain
K1 Literature
K1 Littérature
K1 Mort
K1 urban space
DO 10.1163/15700585-12341546