Prefiguring Egypt's Arab Spring: Allegory and Allusion in Ahmad Khâlid Tawfîq's Utopia.
This paper examines Ahmad Khâlid Tawfîq's 2008 novel Yûtûbiyâ [Utopia] in light of the many literary allusions made by one of its narrators. The novel throws two problematic and unappealing but consistent and vivid characters together in the dystopia that is Cairo in 2020 after the end of the petrol...
| Published in: | Science Fiction Studies Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 541 - 557 |
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| Format: | Article |
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University of California Press
Nov2015
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=110630370&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 110630370 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00917729 SFS jtl: Science Fiction Studies issn: 00917729 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Nov2015 vid: 42 iid: 3 pid: 414 pub: University of California Press artinfo: ui: 110630370 10.5621/sciefictstud.42.3.0541 ppf: 541 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 1.1MB tig: atl: Prefiguring Egypt's Arab Spring: Allegory and Allusion in Ahmad Khâlid Tawfîq's Utopia. aug: au: Campbell, Ian su: Egyptian revolution, Egypt, 2011 Arab Spring Uprisings, 2010-2012 Allegory Tawfîq, Ahmad Khâlid Utopia (Book : Towfik) sug: subj: Egyptian revolution, Egypt, 2011 Arab Spring Uprisings, 2010-2012 Allegory Tawfîq, Ahmad Khâlid Utopia (Book : Towfik) ab: This paper examines Ahmad Khâlid Tawfîq's 2008 novel Yûtûbiyâ [Utopia] in light of the many literary allusions made by one of its narrators. The novel throws two problematic and unappealing but consistent and vivid characters together in the dystopia that is Cairo in 2020 after the end of the petroleum economy. Tawfîq's Egypt represents a cognitively plausible extrapolation from current conditions--class inequality, corruption, and brutality. We can learn to read Utopia less as the tale of two psychologically realistic characters and more as the tale of class differences in an extrapolation from Egyptian society. This opens up to us an understanding of the indictment of Egypt's intellectual class that lies underneath the surface narrative. Utopia reflects upon the conditions that in a few years would lead to the street protests of 2011-12; it also shows, well before the fact, that such protests would only lead to further consolidation of power by the authoritarian regime. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Science Fiction Studies is the property of University of California Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Science Fiction Studies holder: University of California Press dt: @attributes: year: 2015 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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