Cairo July (16): “The Yacoubian Building” and the transformations of time and place (1-2)
The political and social transformations witnessed by Cairo society, as well as the transformations in the urban landscape, were the subject of several novels published after the Nasser era, such as “Doha Said” (1985) and “A Piece of Europe” (2005). A generation of novelists benefited from the new political climate in the post-Nasser era, especially after the state ideology, which had been oriented toward socialism and Arab nationalism, was transformed by Anwar Sadat (1970-1981) and Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011).
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Among the most famous and best-selling novels of the early 2000s is Alaa Al Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building (2002). Although the novel is set in downtown Cairo during the 1990s, the first chapters deal with the transformations of downtown Cairo during the Nasser era, through the story of an old building constructed in 1934. Since the period in which the events take place is not the main subject of the Cairo July episodes, we will limit ourselves to the first chapters of the novel, with a dialogue at the end of the novel about the departure of foreigners and the Egyptians’ attitude toward Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In all his writings, Aswani evokes major social and political issues at the national and global levels, such as extremism, corruption, and poverty. Aswani’s novels attach great importance to the patterns of Egyptian society. Through the characters in his novels, Aswani depicts the daily life of Egyptians, their traditions and moods, their joys and sorrows, as he describes: “As long as I write novels about Egyptian society, I must live in its midst.”
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Regarding the inspiration for The Yacoubian Building, Aswani wrote: “I was walking down one of the streets of Garden City when I saw an old building next to the American Embassy being demolished.” I contemplated the crumbling walls. Behind them lay the belongings of the people who had lived in this building for years, containing their memories and stories. While I was absorbed in thinking about what I had seen, I decided to start writing a novel centered on architecture, which could participate in events by expressing the changes that could happen to a group of people.
Al-Aswani was inspired to write the novel by the demolition of old buildings, which began in 1952 and continued thereafter. The novel is based primarily on the theme of spatial and socio-political transformation experienced by a residential building that brings together residents from different generations and diverse social backgrounds.
This is consistent with literary critic Mark Cooper’s view of the novel, in which he asserts that The Yacoubian Building highlights the importance of urban transformations in modern Egypt. These transformations, according to Cooper, “are synonymous with heavy bets on the continuity of political systems that fail to resolve the issue of the deterioration of entire parts of the urban fabric […]”. It is worth noting that the novel’s success has drawn national and international attention to the architectural and urban value of downtown Cairo, where preserving the area’s heritage has been a national issue since the 1990s.
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The Yacoubian Building is a real building located on Talaat Harb Street in the heart of downtown Cairo. However, the novel uses it to provide an insightful look at its residents, as if it were a microcosm of Egyptian society in one place, addressing many issues such as abuse of power, poverty, endemic social corruption, drug trafficking, and terrorism. All of these issues intersect with the lives of the building’s residents, who represent these contrasting and constantly conflicting classes.
The building itself also undergoes political and social transformations beginning in 1952, becoming a typical example of downtown architecture. Changes in use as a result of seizures and confiscations, in accordance with the principle of residential succession (discussed in Episode 11), which did not escape corruption, lead to the deterioration of the building. The urban explosion in Cairo affects architecture, which is transformed into a “densely populated island” under demographic pressure. More generally, architecture tells the story of the fate of the city center. As Cooper explains, the novel is “symbolic of the unfortunate fate of the modern, European neighborhood in Cairo.”
The Yacoubian Building seems like a theatrical setting in which events resulting from the political and social transformations that the country has undergone since 1952 unfold. The descriptions and situations recounted by the narrator represent each resident of the building as a unique social unit or independent entity.
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Take, for example, Zaki Bey Desouki, one of the building’s oldest residents since the late 1940s. He represents the history of the neighborhood before 1952 and is the son of a former minister who was a Wafd Party member. Desouki studied engineering in France and upon his return was given the title of Bey. However, his dreams of a promising future evaporated after the 1952 revolution: his father was tried before the Revolutionary Court and his property was confiscated, and he passed away lamenting its loss. As for his son, Zaki, the narrator describes him as a “legendary” figure, whose personal characteristics give a clear idea of the social class to which he belongs:
“He is a beloved folkloric figure to the residents of the street when he appears in his full suit, summer and winter, which hides his small, emaciated body and his ironed, always dangling pocket square in the same color as his tie, and that famous cigar, which in his heyday was a luxurious Cuban and is now a cheap, sweetened variety.His face is wrinkled with age, he wears thick glasses, has shiny false teeth, and his few strands of black hair are combed from left to right across his head to cover the cursed bald spot.
In short, Zaki al-Dusouki seems somewhat mythical, which makes his presence intriguing and completely unreal (as if he might disappear at any moment or as if he were an actor playing a role). It is understandable that after he finishes, he will take off his acting clothes and put on his original clothes.
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It was enough to mention the type of cigar Zaki al-Dusouki smoked to describe the shift in the consumption patterns of the aristocracy from before 1952 to after. The former pasha’s elegant appearance confirms his belonging to a bygone era and later becomes, in the eyes of the narrator and, by extension, the population, an anomaly closer to folklore. Moreover, Zaki Bey represents the complete opposition to the ruling regime, which he considers an authoritarian system that has stifled democratic life and pushed the country into decline. In his view, democratic life in Egypt only existed during the monarchy, which was overthrown by Nasser and his associates. Since then, Egypt has fallen into “poverty, corruption, and failure in all areas.”
Among the characters in the novel is Hajj Azzam. He is a millionaire in his sixties who represents the class of businessmen who prospered during the period of economic liberalization. He was originally an immigrant who began his career in the city center in the 1960s: He came from the governorate of Sohag to shine the shoes of passersby on Suleiman Pasha Street, then disappeared, only to return twenty years later, filthy rich. He explains that he was working in a Gulf country, but in reality, and later on, the reader discovers the source of his wealth: drug trafficking.
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In the novel, Hajj Azzam owns a shop on the ground floor of the Yacoubian Building. Azzam represents the parasitic class of the nouveau riche, or “fat cats.” Azzam is described as someone with an “irresistible urge to buy real estate and shops in the city center,” to the point that he becomes “the undisputed leader of Suleiman Pasha Street. People turn to him to solve their problems and help them.” Finally, Azzam succeeds in joining the ruling party (the National Democratic Party) and, after rigged elections, is elected as a member of parliament for the Qasr al-Nil district in Luxor.
In the novel, the younger generation is represented by Taha and his girlfriend Buthaina. They are part of the community living on the roof of the Yacoubian Building. Buthaina is the eldest daughter of a poor family who is forced to leave school and work after her father’s death to support her family. She works as a saleswoman in a shop in the city center, where the owner sexually exploits her.
Taha, the son of the doorman and an outstanding student, aspires to enter the police academy. Unfortunately, he is rejected because of his father’s profession, a fact that highlights social inequality and institutional corruption. Taha’s life then changes: he leaves Buthaina, who has a relationship with Zaki Desouki after becoming his secretary. He joins a fundamentalist group and is later arrested and tortured by state security. To get revenge, Taha embraces the violent ideology of Islamic groups after his release from prison. Finally, Taha takes part in an operation targeting the state security officer who tortured him, and passes away after successfully killing his tormentor.
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From the first pages of the novel, the narrator provides an architectural description of the Yacoubian Building, which was built during the reign of King Fuad I. It thus belongs to the second phase of construction in downtown Cairo: a time when apartment buildings replaced villas with large gardens.
In 1934, millionaire Hakob Yacoubian, then dean of the Armenian community in Egypt, decided to build a residential building bearing his name. He chose the most prestigious location on Suleiman Pasha Street and contracted a renowned Italian engineering firm to design it, which came up with a beautiful design: Ten towering floors in a luxurious classic European style: balconies adorned with stone-carved Greek statues, columns, steps, and corridors all made of natural marble, and a state-of-the-art Schindler elevator. Construction work continued for two full years, after which a masterpiece emerged.
First, we can see that the land offers presented to Hakob Yaqoubian were abundant and varied. He therefore chose the best location for his building. Hakob Yaqoubian, in fact, entrusted the task to the Armenian architect Karo Balian, who designed the eight-story Art Deco building. The imaginative description of the architecture makes it clear that the narrator does not want to give a detailed documentation of Yaqoubian’s architecture.
The description at the beginning of the novel represents the general condition of most buildings in the city center at that time. The description of the architecture combines different elements from several buildings located in the city center: the classic European style (Neoclassical), decorations, building materials, and technological innovations.
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As for the windows decorated with Greek faces, this is a very rare practice in classic downtown buildings, and there are few examples of it: some windows of the Sakakini Palace in the neighborhood of the same name, the Egyptian Diplomatic Club building (formerly the Muhammad Ali Club), and two other examples in the Garden City neighborhood. It seems that the latter two inspired Aswani because he lived and worked in the same neighborhood.
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At the end of the novel, in a conversation between Zaki Desouki and Buthaina, the former asserts that the architecture is an exact replica of what he saw in the Latin Quarter in Paris. This information is inaccurate, as the architecture does not exactly resemble that of the aforementioned quarter, but it does highlight the borrowing of European styles, which had been a common practice since the end of the 19th century. This is clearly the case with several buildings in the city center. The Yacoubian Building is seen as a work of art that proudly bears its owner’s name:
“The construction work took two full years, after which an architectural masterpiece emerged that exceeded all expectations, to the extent that its owner asked the Italian engineer to engrave his name “Yaqoubian” in large Latin letters on the inside of the door, illuminated at night with neon lights, as if to immortalize his name and confirm his ownership of the magnificent building.”
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The building is part of a cosmopolitan city, where the residents represent the “cream” of society, including the elite and foreigners: “The Yaqoubian building was home to the cream of society in those days, ministers and pashas, major feudal lords, foreign industrialists, and two Jewish millionaires (one of whom was from the well-known Musiri family).”
The narrator is keen to mention the different classes that represent the old residents of the city center. This reminds us of the role of foreigners in society, as we explained at the beginning of the episode. At that time, most foreigners worked as high-level experts or technicians. Finally, there were the Jews, especially the Mousseri family, who were involved in film production and distribution.
