Alinea, Librairie Antoine book review

Cinema has always fed on literature and particularly so in Egypt. A striving cinema industry along with exceptional writers have contributed to the success of novel adaptation in Egyptian cinema, but novels have also found other interesting adaptations such as plays or operettas. Here are a few examples.

	Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy) by Naguib Mahfouz The Cairo trilogy along with the children of the alley qualified Naguib Mahfouz for the Nobel Prize for literature. “You can’t understand Egypt without Mahfouz—without his characters, with whom every reader, Arab or not, can identify.” The three novels of this trilogy were named after actual streets in Cairo and is a 3-generation saga of a family spanning over several decades, from 1917 to the 1950s. In 2006 the trilogy was adapted into a radio series on BBC. One of its three episodes can be found on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/classic_serial.shtml
	Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz Many of Mahfouz’s novels were adapted into film. Miramar was no exception. In 1969, seven years after making an adaptation of The thief and the dogs, Kamal el Sheikh adapted Miramar for the silver screen. In 2005, for the occasion of Mahfouz’s 95 birthday it was readapted into a classical opera by the team of composer Sherif Mohie El-Din and librettist/poet Sayed Higab, and directed by Mohamed Abou El-Kheir. Miramar was also the first of Naguib Mahfouz’s books to be translated to English (1978). It follows the interactions of the residents of the pension of the same name. Their lives revolve around Zohra, a striking peasant girl who has abandoned her village life as they fight for her affection and allegiance. Zohra is seen as a metaphor of modern Egypt, hardworking, honest, uneducated and constantly being pulled apart.
	The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al-Aswany Alaa Al- Aswany is a dentist-tuner-writer who was made famous (and made into the best selling Arab novelist) by The Yacoubian Building (Amarat Yacoubian). The book is centered on the once fashionable apartment building of the title and the various characters that live in it. It offers a compelling portrayal of modern life in Egypt. The film adaptation was made in 2002 and “has been reported to be the highest-budgeted film in the history of Egyptian cinema.” It stars the infamous Adel Imam as Zaki Bey el Dessouki, one of the apartment building’s occupants, a wealthy elderly foreign-educated engineer and a womanizer, who holds an office there. The film well received and its success prompted the creation of a TV series of the same name in 2006. A podcast of Alaa Al Aswani discussing his work can be found on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2009/11/091109_wbc_alaa_al_aswaany.shtml
	Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories by Ghassan Kanafani Palestinian born Kanafani was a Palestinian writer and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He died in a car bomb. His first novel, Men in the sun was published in 1962 in Beirut. It recalls the story of three Palestinian refugee’s journey to Kuweit seeking of work and opportunity. Each of the characters represents a different generation and as the novel ends they perish in their journey across the desert. The metaphor with the Palestinian people is quite straightforward. Men in the Sun was adapted into a movie, al-Makhduun (The Deceived), by Egyptian director Tawfiq Saleh. The movie was banned in several Arab countries. It can be found at the following link: http://www.arabfilm.com/item/55/
	The Heron by Ibrahim Aslan Ibrahim Aslan was born in Egypt in 1937 to a working class family. His reputation as a leading Arab writer propelled him to important positions in Arab media and publishing. He is currently culture editor in the Cairo bureau of the London-based daily newspaper al-Hayat. His first novel, The Heron, was published in Arabic in 1983. It is set in a working class neighbourhood in Imbaba district on the eve of January 1977’s bread riots, which protested “World Bank and International Monetary Fund-mandated termination of state subsidies on basic foodstuffs”. The novel was adapted to film by Dawud Abdel Sayed. The film, entitled “Kit Kat”, was released in 1991.

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