Customer Reviews

The Dream Palace of the Arabs

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

(...) I know very little about Arabic literature and poetry, and I have not read extensively about the "Middle East." Once the bar is set at that level, however, I found this book quite approachable.

The Dream Palace of the Arabs focusses on a particular time and space in the Arab world--the brief rise of Nasserism and nationalism generally and its subsequent collapse into bitterness. There is much great contemporary relavance in this 1998 work.

Ajami gives us Beirut and Lebanon, both before and during the terrible war; and he takes us into its rich literary world. He discusses the First and Second Gulf Wars [Iran-Iraq war and Desert Storm], explains the subtext of shia/sunni conflict, tells us a bit about Kuwait and a great deal about Saddam Hussein.

My favorite part of the book is the chapter "In the Land of Egypt." The last chapter "The Orphaned Peace" takes us to the heart of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, post-Oslo to the birth of the Palestinian Authority. Despite the tragedies and sorrows encountered in this book, I was left hopeful for peace.

Not conventional history I suppose, but a fine intellectual history of the last half-century in the Arab world. Inspires me to read some Naguib Mahfuz, where I go next on my journey through amazon...

The extremism that seems to pervade the Middle East is neither the region's predestined endpoint nor is it a historical inevitability-rather, it is a condition that sprung out from the failure of a great generation of reformers and free-thinkers that lived in the middle of the twentieth century, and whose passing away by the 1990s marked the triumph of theocracy and backwardness in the Middle East.

"The Dream Palace of the Arabs" is the sequel to the "Arab Predicament," which Fouad Ajami, a Lebanese professor at Johns Hopkins, published in 1980; back then, Mr. Ajami was younger and "approached [his] material more eager to judge." In the "Arab Predicament," he bemoaned the Arab political experience; in "The Dream Place of the Arabs" he tries to "appreciate what had gone into the edifice that Arabs had built."

This literary journey chronicles the birth of a generation of modernizing Arabs that fought and lost the case for modernity. The history of the past seventy years is narrated through the life of authors and their works-what they wrote, how the societies around them reacted, and how the political condition merged with their literary expression, only to suppress it and silence it.

As a parallel history, "The Dream Palace of the Arabs" could accompany any book. But in looking at the literary interplay between modernizing authors and their surroundings, Mr. Ajami has not only dug deeper in his probe of what brought about the present Arab political condition, but has analyzed the issue on a whole other level.

The reader who is familiar with Middle Eastern history will not feel burdened by the material. The refreshing tone and approach allows Mr. Ajami to deal with such issues as the Iranian revolution, the Egyptian peace with Israel, the Palestinian battle with Israel, or the Iran-Iraq with refreshing erudition and acumen that always excites and never bores.

"The Dream Palace of the Arabs" cannot serve as an introduction to the Middle East; it is too subtle and perceptive for that; but for anyone who is tired of reading about oil politics, religious fundamentalism and elusive peace deals, and who is actually interested in the underlying intellectual currents upon which the Arab political storm thrives, "The Dream Palace of the Arabs" is a sure bet.

Because he lacks the flash and skill at sound bites of some of his more well known colleagues and does not crave to spend time on CNN, Professor Ajami?s work is frequently overlooked. That is a great loss for everyone trying to understand the Arab world, particularly in these times of growing tension and violence.

Ajami asks a profound and much debated question, why did modernity seem to pass the Arab world by? ?Scholars,? such as Edward Said, argue that everything is the fault of the West and imperialism and that nothing intrinsic in Middle Eastern and Islamic culture deserve the blame. In contrast, Ajami takes seriously the fact that prior to the enlightenment, Islamic society was both intellectually and materially superior to West. Indeed, after World War II, with a fair number of Western educated citizens and a burgeoning middle class, many observers say the Middle East having a bright future, likely brighter in fact, than those currently economic and political successes, South Korea, Tiwan, and the other ?asian tigers.? What then, went wrong? Ajami points to Arab society never internalizing the nation state and that democratic values never gained currency beyond a small clique of intellectuals. Instead, such modern political ideas were seen as imperialist impositions, given little more than lip service.

I disagree with Ajami on several points, most notably his rosy predictions for Egypt. Still, the work is well worth a serious read for any student of the Middle East.

I do not mean to imply by the title of this review that Ajami's book is "false" or polemical. Rather, I intend to warn readers that _The Dream Palace of the Arabs_ it is not a work of chronological accounting and crisp historical analysis.

Instead, it is impressionistic and non-linear. Events are narrated as episodes in the life or from the perspective of a certain poet or political figure. This gives the book a dreamy, subjective quality. This, surely, is the point: not to answer a specific historical question, but to tell the tale of "a generation's odyssey", as the book's subtitle has it.

The result is effective and haunting in its sense of disillusionment and frustration, and I recommend the book highly.

The one caveat I offer is that the reader will get much more out of this book if s/he has already read at least some Middle Eastern history, and preferably a fair amount.

If for nothing else, Fouad's essay on "The Orphaned Peace" is worth the price of admission. His insight is peerless, his prose lyrical (his editor did a wonderful job preserving his unique style and language), and his thoughts are, as always, challenging. As one can see from other reader reviews, it takes an uncommon intellectual courage for him to look with such unblinking eyes at the world he grew up in. It is a sad story, told in a unique idiom. A must-read for anyone, Arab or Jew, interested in the region.

This well-written book, first published in 1998, deserves a fresh reading. The book provides a good perspective and some answers for many of the questions that came up in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorists attack. The author dedicated his book to Tahseen Basheer, the Egyptian diplomat. Perhaps a brief answer to many of these questions is given by Mr. Basheer 's comment, that " Political Islam had been checked (in Egypt) in its bid for power, but the Islamization of society has gained ground ". The book reviewed the cultural history of the Middle East and its (political) Islamization in the late 20th century. It reviewed the societal change from progressive secular nationalism and modernity to theocracy and Islamic militancy marked with antiwestern tendencies.
The book starts with the literary scene in Beirut, Lebanon in 1960's through the 1980's, where many Arabic writers, poets, and intellectuals found a haven from dictatorial rule back home and restrictions on the freedom of expression. As the Lebanese civil war took its toll, freedom seekers who settled in Beirut, had to find other havens in Paris, London, Canada, and the US. The conflict in the Middle East and the theocratic Khomeinie revolution contributed to the exasperation of communal conflicts in Lebanon. The new found oil wealth in the Arab oil producing states after 1973 and recession of the mid 1980's influenced or possibly accelerated the change of many of the once progressive Middle Eastern societies into regressive societies.
The writer indicated that Egypt has always held an endless fascination for him. He attempted to present some of the subtlety and some of the pain of its uneven encounter with modernity. Egypt had an early start in modernization in the 19th and early 20th centuries, much earlier than other Arabic countries. Egypt provided a beacon of civilization, culture and inspiration for the rest of the Arabic world. The author recounted his childhood memories, and how his aunts shed the old veils, put on western attire and high heels, and enjoyed Egyptian literature. He reviewed the changes of the 1970's under President Sadat of Egypt. After a failed attempt to assassinate President Nasser of Egypt, he banned the Muslim Brothers organization, and jailed many of its members. Sadat freed them from prison and assisted their organization in an attempt to counter the socialist organizations of his predecessor Nasser. Preachers and religious activists drawn from the Muslim brothers were given access to the airwaves and print media and became icons of popular culture in Egypt. They, however, dabbled in incendiary material, advocated an Islamic state, and hounded the indigenous Christians of Egypt, the Copts. They made no secret of their view that the best the Copts would hope for was a diminished and subordinate status. The incendiary militant Islamic propaganda against the Copts was followed by violent attacks.To this the Egyptian state turned a blind eye.
The Copts is the largest indigenous Christian population in the Middle East. The author commented on the Copts demographic weight as one of the great riddles of Egypt. Rifaat Said, an Egyptian political observer, is quoted saying " we count everything in Egypt, the only thing we do not count are the Copts. They have been 2 million since 1945, no body has died; no body has been born" .The militant Islamic groups prefer a low estimate of the Copts as it suits their political agenda to suppress the rights of the Christian population and to relegate them to the status of a subjugated people, Dhimmitude. Adel Hussein, a noted figure in the militant Islamic movement told the author, that the population of the Copts was only 2 million or close to 3% of the total population. The Copts contend that their number is underestimated. Some believe it could be 15-20 % of the total population. Under Sadat the militant Islamic teaching penetrated the educational curriculum. In schools captured by the Militant Islamic groups, the national anthem and the Egyptian flag were banned. These groups considered the Egyptian national anthem and flag as un-Islamic symbols. The propaganda of the Militant Islamic groups led to a culture of discrimination and bigotry against the Copts. An unwritten pact, both in private companies and the government, has been followed to limit the employment of the Christians. In 1990, a Muslim cleric declared that the wealth of the Copts was "halal", i.e. permissible for plunder. The same cleric was convicted later for involvement in the 1993 terrorist attack against the New York World Trade Center. The militant Islamic groups terrorized the Copts, murdered pharmacists and gold smiths and looted their property and money.
The author also wrote about the plight of Muslim Intellectuals. Nobel Laureate Nagib Mahfouz, a national Egyptian icon and a well-respected author was the subject of a failed murder attempt by militant Muslims. Farag Fouda another Muslim intellectual was murdered in summer 1992 by militant Muslims. The author recounted other episodes to intimidate and suppress Muslim intellectuals, opposed to the theocratic school of thought.
Many commentators opine that western analysts have underestimated or misread actions by Militant Islamic groups. This book provides a brief review for many of the events or dots on the screen, which could have assisted the analysts.

This book is an absorbing blend of history and literary criticism. A somewhat melancholy narrative of the political and economic failure of the Arab World in the 20th century, it is also a study of Arab intellectual currents of the time. The author chronicles the lives and the thoughts of these intellectuals from the heyday of modernity in the middle of the century through pan-Arabism, secular nationalism and Nasserism.

The great dream of an Arab Awakening failed miserably. The total defeat of 1967 was a turning point in the move towards religious fundamentalism whilst the increased oil revenue after 1973 only exacerbated the fragmentation of the Arab World into brutal fascist regimes, medieval theocracies and oiligarchies.

There were and are exceptions to the majority of intellectuals who were united mainly in their hatred of Israel, like the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz, the Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh and a few others. According to Ajami's insightful analyses, repeated failure led to extremism and further disasters and thus the cycle of hopelessness continued.

This book was published in 1998 so it preceded the expressions of more murderous nihilism as seen in 9/11, the further intifada against Israel and the genocide in Darfur. The embrace of religious fundamentalism has been facilitated by the nihilistic utopianism of writers like Edward Said and others. One of the results of this regrettable trend has been the more severe oppression of minorities like the Christian Copts in Egypt.

The book is illuminating on many levels: the Shia/Sunni divide, The Iranian revolution and Arab perceptions of it, The Oslo accords, Iraq's war against Iran and Kuwait, the assassination of Sadat and the attitudes of the Arab intelligentsia towards Israel.

Dream Palace Of The Arabs is a most enlightening read for those who wish to understand the tragic history of the Middle East. The work is scholarly and well researched, but the writing has a riveting and poetic quality that keeps the reader captivated throughout.

Dream Palace of the Arabs : A Generation's Odyssey is a fascinating, sad look at a lost generation of Arab intellectuals. The author, Fouad Ajami, explores Pan-Arabism and Arab Nationalism through the lense of Arabic arts and letters.

It starts off, naturally enough, with the 1982 suicide of Lebanese poet Khalil Hawi-an event that comes to symbolize the fate of the pro-modernization political-intellectual movement. It then moves on to an exploration of a generational divide-between Arab secular nationalists and the now dominant Islamists-through the art of Adonis, Sadiq al-Azm, Abdelrahman Munif, and Nizar Qabbani. With that as background, the author then provides a more detailed look at Egypt in the aftershock of Sadat's assassination; the novelist Naguib Mahfuz plays a central role in this chapter. Finally, the Arab reaction to Israel is revealingly illustrated through the writings and statements of a number of men (and one woman) of Arabic letters.

Ajami, a nominally Eastern Orthodox Arab raised in Beirut and now teaching in America, is extremely well-suited for the task. He is himself a member of this generation and writes with exquisite pain and tenderness, and also with brutal honesty, revealing the seemingly missed potential of this lost generation's dreams. At times, particularly in the beginning which describes the fall of Lebanon, this is a difficult book to read; the grand ideas and the author's affection for old Lebanon are downright depressing reading when you know where it's all heading. In the later chapters, particularly the one dealing with the secular vs. Islamist divide and the Gulf War and the one addressing Israel and the various "peace processes", the mood is less tense-although perhaps this is because I personally feel less of a sense of loss over the rest of the Arab world than I do over Lebanon's demise.

I've read quite a few articles and a number of books over the years that each attempted to shed light on the politics and modern history of the Arab world. This one, though, has been uniquely revealing to me as it is in large part the story as told by Arabs, to Arabs. Of course, this is largely the narrative belonging to the secularists born shortly after World War II, and their voices seem to hold very little sway in today's world. Still, to try to understand the culture and environment that produced Al Qaeda without listening to those doomed voices of the latter twentieth century would be like trying to fully understand the America of the late sixties and early seventies without knowing anything of World War II and the early Cold War. That analogy only goes so far, of course, but there is a similarity there in that both worlds produced generations of radical rejectionism; full comprehension demands that serious inquirers first go back to grasp what it was that was rejected. Add to that the power and importance in the Arab world of language and poetry, and it is easy to see that the author's approach is an extremely useful and informative one. For all these reasons, this book holds a place on my Warblogger's Bookshelf.

By now, you should be able to tell that this book is not for everyone. If the examination of Arab poetry and the exploration of foreign intellectual movements make up your idea of torture in a foreign land, stay away. On the other hand, if, like me, you are fascinated by Arab culture and want to better understand the political failures underlying today's Middle East, then this will be an excellent and rewarding read for you.

Perhaps Ajami's best: a legendary (and, for some, inconveniently seminal) text in the field of Middle Eastern studies and Arab psychology.

Mr. Ajami states that the purpose of this book is to analyze the fate of various secular and progressive movements in the Arab world since about the end of World War II.

But the book really winds up being about something much more subtle.

In reality, Ajami's basic thesis is that the hopelessness of modern Arabs (in such fields as medicine, politics, education, economics -- even warfare) stems from their insistence on perceiving and, in turn, constructing their reality out of words, out of rhetoric, out of the incantatory and soothing effect of flowery or mystical verbiage, rather than out of the zillions of nagging and undeniable clues that the external world keeps jabbing them with.

It's a lot more interesting than I'm making it sound, though.

While this book focuses on literary and cultural trends in the Middle East, it shows how these areas are a barometer for political trends as well.

Tracing the rise and fall of Arab nationalism and the notion of secular politics, Ajami provides an insight into how the rise of Islamic radicalism came about. This is done in human terms by following the lives of the region's poets and writers who mirrored these trends. My only quibble would be that the book focused mostly on Lebanon and Egypt, but overall, I learned a great deal from this book.