The tragedy of Arab life haunts many hearts but has remained, apparently, insoluble. For those counted wise in the West the state of the Arab world now is like the existence of the Soviet Union in the Eighties — a durable fact that one has to learn to accept. The idea that democracy, or anything like it, can take root in the arid soil of the Middle East is a mirage — and pursuing it will end only in misery, as Iraq’s tragedy is proving.
But now new voices are challenging that assumption. A work has recently been produced that lays bare the ugliness of contemporary Egyptian society — the staggering level of business corruption, the ruthlessness with which political power is manipulated by the elites to consolidate their own position, the sexual hypocrisy which stifles genuine freedom and deprives women of basic rights, the crushing of individual initiative and ambition by cronyism and the rise in extremism fuelled directly by the regime’s own flagrant defiance of the common good.
The work is not a polemic for a neo-con think-tank but a novel, The Yacoubian Building, by the Egyptian writer Alaa al-Aswany. What makes it remarkable as a work of fiction is the manner in which al-Aswany combines his devastating hatchet job on the current Egyptian regime with a touching and humane narrative that engages the reader as charmingly as Armistead Maupin or Alexander McCall Smith.
In other news, white man discovers social critique in Arab literature. Wait until he finds out about Sonallah Ibrahim!
[Thanks, S.]
That’s a disgraceful way to introduce a piece by someone who was writing for a western audience with little knowledge of Arab culture, and suggesting that there really aren’t such big differences between people of different races and traditions. As a result of reading Gove’s piece, at least some people will be buying and reading al-Aswany’s book who would not otherwise have done so.
I had a good snicker at the earnestness and cluelessness of it all. But if it creates more awareness about political repression and corruption in Egypt, Clueless Whitey ain’t so bad. It’s nice in a way to get the neocon/Cold War rhetoric to work in favour of pro-democracy forces in Egypt, rather than in favour of some imagined last liberal hold-outs against the Islamist hordes.
all of which ignores the fact that it isn’t a very good book. and, peter risdon, the point is not so much that it was written “for a western audience with little knowledge of Arab culture” as gove’s own ignorance (viz. his ridiculous excitement about the author’s daring–probably because of the heady mix of cartoonish gays and confused islamist youth–and daft literary comparisons). finally, there’s no need to read aswani to find out about “political repression and corruption in Egypt”. most people, however ignorant, would assume it to be the case and they’d be right.
maybe it’s all for the best, but can anything so stupid (i.e. michael gove reads one iffy novel and is suddenly up to his waist in insight) actually be anything other than depressing?
I agree with Peter. Most people in the West don’t give a whit about the Arab world and don’t consider (or care) whether there’s anyone who’s unhappy about the corruption and lack of social mobility and is made to suffer as a result.
While Yaqoubian may be a work of schlock fiction — and “r” is right, it’s not a terribly good book — it is getting a lot of attention — it’s been released in the US by a mainstream publisher, and it’s even appeared on a few uni syllabi. It’s an accessible book about the Arab World that people are talking about, and for once it’s not written by Pipes or Spencer or someone of that ilk.
Beggars can’t be choosers here: if it takes a piece of schlock fiction to get people in the West to see the Arab world as stratified and multi-dimensional, so be it. It may not be the ideal book to represent the Arab world — God knows I cringe at the thought of what the rest of the world is learning about the US from Baywatch and American Idol — but if you want to know what the average person thinks about the Arab world, start trolling the reader comments on Amazon (if your blood pressure can take it).
Maybe once they’re done with Yaqoubian they’ll actually be inspired to pick up Sonallah Ibrahim or Abdelrahman Munif and read something “real.”
In the meantime, I say take advantage of the conversation Yaqoubian has started and get ready to direct it somewhere more productive.
I can’t wait for Gove to discover the “new Saudi chick lit”, full of sex, especially lesbianism and S&M.
Give us Western Liberals a break here. It’s not easy calling attention to any progressive voices in the Arab world when the prevailing opinion among both the left and right –at least in my world of Chicago Illinois– is Arabs are a violent lot we should leave to butcher and oppress one another; and we’ll drive ethanol fueled cars using good midwestern grain.