Alexandria in the Time of Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933)

Alexandria in the Time of Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933) Hiroshi KATO and Erina IWASAKI Introduction: Why Cavafy? A newspaper article was published in 2003 in relation to the death of the famous Palestin- ian-American thinker, Edward Said (1935-2003). In 2003, the funeral of Edward Said was held at Riverside Church in uptown New York in September 25, 2003. In it, Daniel Barenboim, famous Jewish musician and close friend of Said, played Said’s favorite music of Mozart, Bach and Brahms on the piano, and Said’s daughter read Waiting for the Barbarians by the Greek Alexandrine poet Constantine Cavafy. She said that her father loved the poems of Cavafy. The article reported that at the funeral of Edward Said, Said’s daughter read one of the poems of the Greek Alexandrine poet Constantine Cavafy.1 The beginning and ending of the poem (composed in 1898) are as follows [Cavafy 1992: 18-19]: Waiting for the Barbarians What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. Why isn’t anything happening in the senate? Why do the senators sit there without legislating? Because the barbarians are coming today. What laws can the senators make now? Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating. … Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion? (How serious people’s faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, 1 Constantine P. Cavafy (Konstandinos Petru Kavafis, 1863-1933). All the poems of Cavafy are translated into Japanese. 82 H. KATO AND E. IWASAKI everyone going home so lost in thought? Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come. And some who have just returned from the border say there are no barbarians any longer. And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? They were, those people, a kind of solution. It is interesting to speculate why Said, the writer of Orientalism and a pro-Palestine ac- tivist, was fascinated by this poem. It is probable that he sympathized with the diaspora of Cavafy, although there was a difference between Said and Cavafy as to the nature of their diasporas. The diaspora of Edward Said was forced by the Israeli occupation of the Palestine, whereas the diaspora of Cavafy was freely chosen. In particular, what did Edward Said read in Cavafy’s poem Waiting for the Barbarians? Who were the “Barbarians” for Cavafy and for Edward Said? It is obvious that Edward Said sympathized with the elegy of the world to which Cavafy felt he belonged, which reflects the atmosphere of the modern Alexandria in which Cavafy lived and wrote. This paper aims to examine the decadent atmosphere or spirit of modern Alexandria in the time of Cavafy,2 as reflected in his poems; that is, it focuses on Alexandria from the second half of the nineteenth century to the period between the two World Wars of the twentieth century. It aims to do so by examining the following two subjects: 3 first, the dramatic appearance of Alexandria in the world economy; and second, the identity crisis among the foreign minorities, especially the Greeks, to which Cavafy belonged, in modern Alexandria. Before discuss- ing these two themes, we briefly outline the formation of modernAlexandria. I. The formation of modern Alexandria It is well known that Egypt has been a centralized society and thus has been characterized by a lack of diversity or variety, at least from a cultural viewpoint. In Egypt, everything has been “Egyptianized”. In this situation, Alexandria cut a brilliant figure in modern Egypt. Alexandria is a modern city, although its name dates back to the Hellenistic age. When Napoleon Bonaparte landed his troops in 1798, which was the starting point of the moderniza- tion of Egypt, it is said that the population of Alexandria did not exceed 8,000. As shown in Graph 1 and Table 1, the initial stage of population growth in Alexandria would have occurred under the reign of Muhammad Ali (who ruled in 1805-48). 2 Cavafy was born in 1863 during the cotton boom (1861-65) and died in 1933, during the Great Depression (1929-33). 3 This paper aims to expand on the theme of Kato [1998]. ALEXANDRIA IN THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE CAVAFY (1863-1933) 83 Graph 1 Urban population ratio in Egypt and the proportion of Cairo and Alexandria in the urban Graphpopulation 1 Urban (1882–2006) population ratio in Egypt and the proportion of Cairo and Alexandria in the urban population (1882-2006) 60 1.2 55 Cairo 50 1 and 43 42 40 0.8 38 39 34 35 growth 32 32 30 30 0.6 29 29 Alexandria 28 27 27 (%) in 24 Urban 23 23 22 20 0.4 % % Urban growth 17 % Population growth 16 16 15 15 15 14 14 growth 13 13 10 0.2 3 0 0 1821 1846 1882 1897 19071917 19271937 19471960 1966 1976 1986 19962006 Population ‐ 26 Urban % Cairo Alexandria Note: No information is available on the urban and rural population in 1882. The population in 1966 is from the 1966 censusNote: sample No information survey. The is urban available populations on the in urban 1897 andand rural1917 populationare from the in estimations 1882. The by population Panzac [1977] in 1966 and is from the those for 1821-261966 census and 1846-82 sample are survey. estimations The urban by Baer populations [1969: 134-135]. in 1897 and 1917 are from the estimations by Panzac Source: Statistical Yearbook, 2013; 2015, Baer [1969: 134-135]. [1977] and those for 1821–26 and 1846–1882 are estimations by Baer [1969: 134–135]. Source: Statistical Yearbook, 2013; 2015, Baer [1969: 134–135]. During the period 1821-46, the population of Alexandria grew rapidly. Alexandria would have beenDuring a small the town period of only1821 12,528–46, the residents population at ofthe Alexandria start of this grew period, rapidly. around Alexandria 1821-26. would By have been a 1846, itssmall population town of only had 12,528increased residents to 164,359. at the start It continued of this period, to rise around after 1821 1846,–26. reaching By 1846, moreits population had than 300,000increased persons to 164,359. in 1897. It continued to rise after 1846, reaching more than 300,000 persons in 1897. The populationThe population trends trends indicate indicate that that Alexandria Alexandria was was the th edriving driving forceforce behind the the urbanization urbaniza- of Egypt in tion of theEgypt first inhalf the of first the nineteenth half of the century. nineteenth On the century. other hand, On the increaseother hand, of the the urban increase population of the in the second urban populationhalf of the nineteenthin the second century half was of themainly nineteenth caused by century growth was in Cairo, mainly which caused developed by growth as an in administrative Cairo, whichcenter afterdeveloped the British as anoccupation administrative of Egypt. center The time after lag the in Britishthe development occupation of Alexandria of Egypt. andThe Cairo reflects 4 time lagtheir in thedifferent development positions ofin Alexandriathe political andeconomy Cairo of reflects Egypt. their different positions in the political economyThe time of ofEgyp Cavafy,t.4 the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, was the heyday of Themodern time ofAlexandria Cavafy, theas aend cosmopolitan of the nineteenth city, and and it is the sometimes beginning referred of the to twentieth as “la Belle century, Epoque”. Modern was theAlexandria heyday of was modern a multicultural Alexandria (religious as a cosmopolitan and ethnical city,) city, and whereit is sometimes more than referred 10% of to“foreigners” as and “la Belle“minorities” Epoque”. coexistedModern Alexandriawith Egyptians was aand multicultural Muslims, as (religious will be anddiscussed ethnical) in morecity, wheredetail below. The Municipality of Alexandria was established in 1890. After being planned by foreign residents in the first half more than 10% of “foreigners” and “minorities” coexisted with Egyptians and Muslims, as 4 Obviously,4 the two cities of Cairo and Alexandria were the major cities experiencing population growth in Obviously, the twentieth the twocentury. cities As of shownCairo and in TableAlexandria 1, in were1897, the Cairo major (governorate) cities experiencing had only population 525,029 growth in the residents,twentieth comprising century. 6.5% As of shown the total in Table population 1, in 1897, and Cairo Alexandria (governorate) had only had 315,844 only 525,029 residents, residents, equaling comprising 6.5% 3.9% ofof the the total total population. population The and population Alexandria of had these only two 315,844 cities grewresidents, steadily equaling from this3.9% point, of the except total forpopulation. The the periodpopulation of depression, of these 1927 two- 37.cities The grew annual steadily population from this growth point, reached except forpeaks the inperiod Cairo of of depression, 4.8% during 1927 –1937. The annual population growth reached peaks in Cairo of 4.8% during 1937–1947, and in Alexandria of 3.9% during 1937-47, and in Alexandria of 3.9% during 1947-60. 1947–1960. 3 84 H. KATO AND E. IWASAKI will be discussed in more detail below. The Municipality of Alexandria was established in 1890. After being planned by foreign residents in the first half of nineteenth century, the municipality was initiated by the activity of the Alexandrian merchants.5 It was the first veritable municipality in Egypt and, for a long time, the only one. Table 1 Population of Cairo, Alexandria, and Egypt (1821-1907) Population Average annual growth (%) Total Cairo Alexandria Total Cairo Alexandria 1821-26 2,536,400 218,560 12,528 2.21 0.62 10.41 1846 4,476,439 256,679 164,359 0.63 0.98 0.01 1872 5,210,287 330,763 164,718 1.15 0.40 0.13 1877 5,517,627 337,462 165,752 3.98 3.38 7.01 1882 6,705,825 398,410 232,636 2.45 1.86 2.06 1897 9,634,752 525,029 315,844 1.51 2.60 1.14 1907 11,189,978 678,432 353,807 1.29 1.55 2.32 Source: Gouvernement Égyptien [1897: 8-9], Baer [1969: 134-135].

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