Cairo Swan Song: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) [Hardcover]

Mekkawi Said (Author)

Book Description

Series: Modern Arabic Literature | Publication Date: November 9, 2009

Cairo, Mother of the World, embraces millions - but some of her children make their home in the streets, junked up and living in the shadows of wealth and among the monuments that the tourists flock to see. Mustafa, a former student radical who never believed in the slogans, sets out to tell their story, but he has to rely on the help of his American girlfriend, Marcia, who he is not sure he can trust. Meanwhile, his former leftist friends are now all either capitalists or Islamists.

Alienated from a corrupt and corrupting society, Mustafa watches as the Cairo he cherishes crumbles around him. The men and women of the city struggle to find lovers worthy of their love and causes worthy of their sacrifice in a country that no longer deserves their loyalty. The children of the streets wait for the adults to take notice. And the foreigners can always leave.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MEKKAWI SAID was born in Cairo in 1955. His first collection of short stories appeared in 1981, and since then he has produced four more. His first novel won the Suad Sabbah Arab Creativity Prize in 1991. Cairo Swan Song, his second novel, was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (the 'Arabic Booker') in 2008.

ADAM TALIB, an alumnus of the University of California, Los Angeles and the American University in Cairo, is pursuing a doctorate in Arabic literature at Oxford.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: American University in Cairo Press (November 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9774163060
• ISBN-13: 978-9774163067
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,245,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good read about Cairo !, March 16, 2010

By 

Nile daughter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cairo Swan Song: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) (Hardcover)

I read this book in Arabic (its original language)..it was the first time for me to read for Mekawy Said , I enjoyed reading it a lot ! & could not let it down until I finished it , in the shadows I had the same feelings after I read (the yakobian building ) by Alaa Alaswany .., but the novel is totally different.

The title is a about the last song performed by a swan before its death .. so we have our narrator & protagonist ; and through observing his chaos ending life ..we see the deformation & collapsing of the contemporary Cairo ..although the events are mainly in downtown .

Through the journey of this unbalanced ..confused (can even called psycho) poet & his surroundings , we can see the political ..cultural ..economical & social life of Cairo .., we see street children , foreigners overlapping (American ..German ..Swiss ..Mexican ..Singaporean..Sudanese..etc) , a weird combination so the result is numerous various interactions!!
We see Islamist .. wahabi..Sufi ..etc , strange & different types of women that each of them reflect a strong metaphor in the protagonist's life ..

The novel expresses the shocking deformation of the contemporary Egyptian society in the globalization era with an intelligent & elegant style ..
My personal note is that it may be so gloomy with the death as an end , I really wish there was even a tiny light instead , because I believe in hope ,even though I have to confess it was a very symbolic end !