The well-researched historical novel is flourishing in Egypt and the Arab world, and the award-winning Al Azbakeya by Nasser Iraq is a good example. True to form, the novel is prologued with excerpts from books, official documents and private memoirs relating to the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798-1801), providing a window onto the setting before, during and after. As the Leibniz document presented to Louis XIV indicates, it all started back in the 17th century, when the invasion of Egypt was viewed as a geo-political necessity, easy to achieve. This secret document inspired Napoleon over 100 years later. Other documents, in the voice of Napoleon and his generals, have the immediacy of live events. The documentary section ends very aptly with a metaphorical post-mortem, in Mohammed Ali's voice, supposedly in 1837. And so the documents end but not the sense of historical verisimilitude. Relying on fact as much as fiction, the novel attempts to recreate the time and space, the smells, sights and sounds, and ways of thinking in the idiom of that time. Egypt is at a crossroads. Rife with ignorance and poverty, economically plundered and politically unstable, it is a dangerous place, full of conspiracies and spies. Ostensibly, the French expedition only intensifies these power struggles, bringing with it more intrigue and chaos. But below the surface, and unheeded by most, it also brings heretofore unknown things like the print press, science and the spirit of scientific inquiry, painting and newspapers, theatre, modern music and unsettling ideas about liberty, equality and fraternity. The French Campaign was a momentous event, a bold gamble for the vainglorious Napoleon, and a lucrative exploit for his cynical and self-serving generals and soldiers; it was the end of the road for the dysfunctional Mameluke state, and a negotiating card for the Ottomans and the English, but for those on the ground, it represented only one thing: the hated enemy of the Egyptian people. Never in person, but in the shadows, Napoleon looms, well-versed in military prowess and double-dealing. Since the familiar recipe for historical fiction is called for, other historical characters – Abdul-Rahman Al-Jabarti, Omar Makram and Mohammed Ali – make repeated appearances and rub shoulders with fictional counterparts. In an effort to provide the ultimate in objectivity, the novel tries to capture all the moods in alternating narrations in both the first and third person. All human passions and all familiar existential struggles are played out in the shadow of the Napoleonic game and its aftermath. French or Egyptian, male or female, young or old, all the characters – real or imagined –struggle with their personal demons, albeit in the context of historical events. Two first-person narrators occupy more narrative space than others. The Al-Azhar-educated Ayoub is a complex character. A skilful book copier blissfully unaware of the imminence of printing, he is an avowed resistance fighter. Unaware of the contradictions imbedded in his character, he is driven as much by religious and nationalist zeal as by ignorance and lust. Gradually he comes to a more balanced view of the world. However, it is too little too late, and his own life is the pound of flesh demanded of him. Second in importance is Charles, the French painter and long-time resident of Egypt, but he is more of a cardboard creation. A veteran of the French Revolution, he has come to Egypt seeking respite from the memory of loss and thus provides a much needed bridge between the two cultures. In the orbits of Ayoub and Charles move many more characters, providing variety and scope: the tragic woman Hassanat, the handsome water carrier Shaldam, the wilful girl Mess'eda, the beguiling Ashraf Hanim, the bewitching Francois… Teeming with voices, the novel is full of shifts, suspense and melodrama. As the title indicates, Al-Azbakeya being right at centre of town, central Cairo is the hub. Above all other symbolism, Al-Azbakeya is the seat of successive rulers: the French General resides there in a palace taken over from the defeated runaway Mameluke Mohammed Al-Alfi. But he, too, is soon succeeded by Mohammed Ali who subsequently consolidates his position. The action moves from Al-Azbakeya to Al-Azhar and Al-Hussayn, and onto far-flung Al-Darassa, Imbaba and Boulaq, the latter three neighbourhoods serving as safe havens for fugitives and outlaws. The architecture of Cairo is defamiliarised for both the Frenchman of the 19th century and the Egyptian reader of the 21st. We walk around a mashrabeya windowed city, wandering in its donkey trodden and dusty alleys, drinking tea, fenugreek and anise, eating fuul, rice, beef and pigeon, smoking the shisha or water pipe, gazing anew at the awesome architecture, the towering mosques, the Fishawi Cafe, the public baths and the private dwellings of Zeinab Khatoun. In the public domain, military power comes up against several insurrections, and the treasure trove of Egypt draws several more inexorable international players into the conflict. In the private sphere, love exists alongside lust, greed alongside sacrifice, nobility alongside betrayal. Napoleon soon finds out that his project of turning Egypt into a French colony is destined to fail, and he military might of France is forced to withdraw. The French Campaign is phased out by the rise of Mohammed Ali, yet another foreign ruler, who without knowledge of the native tongue is wily and clever and well-versed in piety. This shift signals another defeat for the nationalist sentiment, forever hoping for a just ruler from and of the land. Historical irony abounds as personal ambition combines with political and religious expediency, and as old usurpers relentlessly give way to new ones, and the simple dream of self-rule seems remoter than ever. The circuitous technique of narration further underscores the labyrinthine reality and the unending political frustration. This novel – and it is one of several on the recent Egyptian fictional map – is an excellent inquiry into the age. It is also about modernity and the rise of statehood and republicanism in the Middle East. Beyond that, Nasser Iraq's Al-Azbakeya tries to cross the borders of time and place and to probe the endgame of revolutionary idealism.
