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Egypt +100: Stories from a century after Tahrir
Egypt + 100 poses a question to twelve contemporary Egyptian authors: what might your country look like in the year 2111 – exactly a century after the failed Tahrir Square Revolution? Might Egypt still be in the grip of ‘friendly authoritarianism’, clinging to power with all the weapons of futurism at its disposal: protest-avoidant architecture, excessive surveillance, the slow replacement of the outside world with the virtual one. Or might other historical forces come into play, pairing pragmatism with tolerance, and realising some of the lost aspirations of the long-cancelled ‘Arab Spring’.
Covering a range of styles – from SF noir to supernatural horror, to political farce – these stories use the blank canvas of the future to process recent traumas that Egypt has yet to come to terms with. Along the way, we encounter gladiatorial entertainments, anti-procreation resistance movements, the decline of Cairo into a lawless wasteland, far from the gated security of the New Capital, and the simultaneous flooding of lower Egypt with the drying up of the Nile. Each story offers an object lesson in the strange logic of authoritarianism, and how, as the editor puts it, politicians’ fantasies ‘eventually become the citizens’ worst nightmares.’
Covering a range of styles – from SF noir to supernatural horror, to political farce – these stories use the blank canvas of the future to process recent traumas that Egypt has yet to come to terms with. Along the way, we encounter gladiatorial entertainments, anti-procreation resistance movements, the decline of Cairo into a lawless wasteland, far from the gated security of the New Capital, and the simultaneous flooding of lower Egypt with the drying up of the Nile. Each story offers an object lesson in the strange logic of authoritarianism, and how, as the editor puts it, politicians’ fantasies ‘eventually become the citizens’ worst nightmares.’
Paperback
Published July 1, 10
About the author
أحمد ناجي
14 books1,084 followersأحمد ناجى كاتب وصحفي، مواليد المنصورة 1985.
عمل في مجال الصحافة الثقافية منذ عام 2004، دخل السجن عام 2016 بتهمة خدش الحياء العام بسبب نشر فصل من روايته استخدام الحياة، مقيم حالياً في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية
Ahmed Naji is a writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and criminal.
His Using Life (2014) made him the only writer in Egyptian history to be imprisoned for offending public morality.
His book Rotten Evidence, which chronicles his time in prison, is due out in September (2023) with McSweeney's. Other novels by him published in Arabic are Tigers, Uninvited (2020), The happy ends (2022).
Naji has won several prizes, including a Dubai Press Club Award, a PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, and an Open Eye Award. He is currently a fellow at the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV. He now lives in exile in Las Vegas, where his writing continues to delight and provoke.
More about him and his work: https://ahmednaji.net/
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September 27, 2024
Maybe it is expectation vs reality, maybe it is the fact that the book is translated and not in the language of the authors’ mother tongue. But the book disappointed me.
I found many stories lacking imagination, not intriguing enough and lacking of a high quality conflict/mystery/plot twists,…
Few stories if they exist in another book with other stories of similar or higher levels would have made this book different or better. These stories are “The mistake,”, “The solitude of prince Boudi” and “The Tanta museum of white people”) “Mama” was also a bit okay). “God Only Knows” was well written but in my opinion it lacks a new idea.
I found many stories lacking imagination, not intriguing enough and lacking of a high quality conflict/mystery/plot twists,…
Few stories if they exist in another book with other stories of similar or higher levels would have made this book different or better. These stories are “The mistake,”, “The solitude of prince Boudi” and “The Tanta museum of white people”) “Mama” was also a bit okay). “God Only Knows” was well written but in my opinion it lacks a new idea.
Displaying 1 of 1 review