Egyptian politics as told from Chicago

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‘Chicago’ is the title of a newly translated piece of literature that draws a portrait of Egypt’s current affairs through Egyptian expatriates in the U.S.

The novel is the second hit by best-selling novelist Alaa El Aswany, who took Egyptian readers by surprise few years ago with his ‘’Imaret Yacoubian’ or the ‘Yacoubian Building.’ By examining the residents of an old building in downtown Cairo, El Aswany, a practicing dentist, drew a portrait of the social chasm and political corruption in contemporary Egypt.

His latest hit is no less daring. Yet his vantage point is not Cairo, but a university medical school. Egyptian students and professors with different political leanings have brought with them all their memories of the social and political malaise back home. Through the experience of each character, the author removes the curtain from different aspects of corruption and political despotism in Egypt.

The novel also highlights the differing reactions of Egyptians to political and social realities in their home country. Three characters convey those reactions: the hard-core political activist who seeks to raise the political awareness of his compatriots in the U.S., the shrewd opportunist who spies on his colleagues, and the career-oriented doctor whose failure to overcome his fear of the Egyptian regime’s tight grip forces him to commit suicide.

The book mocks Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But like his previous book, the controversy over ‘Chicago’ revolves around its explicit sexual content as much as its politics. The novel has been selling like hot cakes since it first appeared in January 2007. However, the English translation was not put until December.

— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo