An examination of how the space of the downtown served dual purposes as both a symbol of colonial influence and capital in Egypt, as well as a staging ground for the demonstrations of the Egyptian nationalist movement.

Autorentext
MARA NAAMAN Assistant Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at Williams College, USA.

Inhalt
The Urban as Theoretical Frame Specter of Paris: The Staging of Cairo's Modern City Center Reconstructing a National Past: Radwa 'Ashur's Revisionist History of the Downtown The Indigenous Modernism of Khayri Shalabi: Popular Intellectuals and the Neighborhood Ghurza The Proletarian Revolution that Never Was: Idris 'Ali's Nubian Perspective The Nation Recast through National Bestseller: Alaa al-Aswany's Ode to Downtown Cairo Wust al-Balad as Neo-Bohemia: Writing in Defense of a Vanishing Public Sphere