SEVEN DAYS at the CECIL Bibliotheca Alexandrina Cataloging-In-Publication Data

SEVEN DAYS AT THE CECIL Bibliotheca Alexandrina Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tzalas, Charēs, 1936- Seven days at the Cecil / Harry Tzalas. – Alexandria, Egypt : Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2009. p. cm. ISBN 978-977-452-161-4 1. Alexandria (Egypt) -- Fiction. I. Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center. II. Title 889.34--dc22 2009418079 ISBN 978-977-452-161-4 Dar El Kuttub Depository No. 17798/2009 © 2009 Bibliotheca Alexandrina. NON-COMMERCIAL REPRODUCTION Information in this publication has been produced with the intent that it be readily available for personal and public non-commercial use and may be reproduced, in part or in whole and by any means, without charge or further permission from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. We ask only that: • Users exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced; • Bibliotheca Alexandrina be identified as the source; and • The reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor as having been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. COMMERCIAL REPRODUCTION Reproduction of multiple copies of materials in this publication, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution is prohibited except with written permission from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. To obtain permission to reproduce materials in this publication for commercial purposes, please contact the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, P.O. Box 138, Chatby, Alexandria 21526, Egypt. e-mail: [email protected] The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the author and does not in any way reflect the views of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Cover design and Text layout: Mina Nader Naguibe Cover illustration: Gamal Awad Samaan 1000 copies, Printed in Egypt Harry Tzalas SEVEN DAYS AT THE CECIL CONTENTS 1. THE FIRST DAY 11 2. LITTLE RUTH’S DAY 35 3. THE UNFORTUNATE SCRIBE’S DAY 45 4. THE LOST WARRIORS’ DAY 89 5. THE FAITHLESS WOMAN’S DAY 127 6. THE BALD SINGER’S DAY 171 7. THE LAST DAY 205 8. EPILOGUE 231 9. GLOSSARY 237 Foreword to the English Edition Seven Days in Alexandria (Επτά Ημέρες στην Αλεξάνδρεια), written at the end of the 1990s, was first published in Greek in 2000. The author would like to draw to the reader’s attention the fact that, over the ten years or more that have elapsed between the writing of the book and its publication in English under the title Seven Days at the Cecil, many changes have occurred in Alexandria. Some of the characters mentioned in the stories are no longer of this world and certain buildings also have disappeared. The panorama of the Corniche, after its recent widening and the rise of monumental skyscrapers, is hardly recognizable. But the historical centre of the City has not much changed thanks to the efforts of some dreamers, who persist in believing that a City that preserves its architectural heritage makes for a better place to live. The house at 19 Sharaa Mamoun, in Moharrem Bey, where Lawrence Durrell stayed during the turbulent years of the Second World War, although in derelict condition, bravely defies the assaults of time and of human neglect. There have been other changes, as well, not all of them engaged in the wrong direction. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the town’s new landmark; the building was not there when Cécile, Sorial, Travers, and Milena were strolling along the Corniche… I certainly would have steered them then to this Mecca of culture, located perhaps where once stood the Mouseion, its ancient and illustrious predecessor. And contrary to what held true ten years ago, when the only guidebooks to the city were E. M. Forster’s Alexandria: a History and a Guide and Evaristo Breccia’s Alexandrea ad Aegyptum, Guide de la ville ancienne et moderne et du Musée Gréco-Romain, one can now find several books to help introduce the non-initiated visitor to the Great City. Among them, Jean-Yves Empereur’s Alexandrie Hier et Demain is a very practical and useful little guidebook as is too Michael Haag’s Alexandria Illustrated. I would like to thank the translator of this book, Susan Mandouvalou-Power, who lived in Alexandria at the time when the book was written, for her conscientious work and patience. My appreciation goes also to my Alexandrian friend Christine Ayoub for her unfailing help and insightful suggestions. The Επτά Ημέρες στην Αλεξάνδρεια was used by several Greek travelers as a guidebook for their first visit to Alexandria, but it has also brought back memories of their youth to those uprooted Greek-Alexandrians who can only return to the City in their dreams. I wished, for sentimental reasons, that the English translation be published in Alexandria, so I am grateful to those who have made it possible: Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Dr. Mohamed Awad, and Dr. Sahar Hamouda of the Biblotheca Alexandrina. Foreword to the Greek edition In the introductions of many novels we read that “the characters in this book are fictional”. Similar disclaimers are often to be found amongst film credits, with the aim, it seems, of protecting the author, publisher or producer from the claims or objections of those who either resemble the characters portrayed in the story or who have found themselves in similar circumstances. But the characters in this book are not fictional. They all exist, regardless of the fact that, for obvious reasons, their names have been altered. However this is neither a biographical work, nor pages from the autobiography of the author, who, while not limiting himself purely to relating facts, was inspired by real situations and events. The narrator of the story cannot always be identified with the author, although they share the same thoughts, the same doubts, the same memories, and above all, the same love of Alexandria and the same nostalgic disposition. And the city is real, as are the historical facts and topographical observations, without however abiding to the strict rules of an historical text or to the rigidity of a guidebook. I THE FIRST DAY “Welcome. Ahlan wa sahlan!” With a broad smile and a warm handshake, Sorial greeted me in the hotel lobby. My London publishers, when asking me to write a tourist guide to Alexandria, had forewarned me: “Our representative in Alexandria is an extraordinary person, always eager and cordial. There is nothing that you could ask of him that he cannot do. There is no door he cannot open. In his town, he knows everyone and everything. “If you should wish to visit the ancient cistern in the crypts of Saint Mark’s, the Coptic Patriarchal Church – no problem, Sorial is a Copt and knows the Patriarch. “You want to get past the ‘Cerberus’ who guards the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Library? He can arrange that too – Sorial is a friend of His Beatitude. 12 Harry Tzalas “Or if you’d like to go down into the vaults of the Nabi Danial mosque – rumoured for the past century and a half to be the burial place of Alexander the Great – then Sorial, who’s friendly with the director of the Service for Islamic Antiquities, will get you permission on the very same day. “At the house of our representative – we call him that, but in fact, the man helps us out with whatever we need in Egypt without remuneration – you can meet the Governor of Alexandria, the military commander, foreign diplomats, local politicians, intellectuals, businessmen, clerics and all that remains of the élite of cosmopolitan Alexandria. “You’ll find Sorial at all the consular receptions – in fact he never misses a social gathering. In between, he has other obligations to attend to – weddings, baptisms and a few funerals. Occasionally, when he has the time to spare, he dabbles in his profession – he’s an architect. “The city holds no secrets for Sorial. He knows the history of Alexandria in every detail. The past enchants him and he enjoys sharing all his ‘discoveries’, his ‘little secrets’, as he calls them, with special visitors. “He’ll take you up onto the walls, the little that remains of the mediaeval fortifications preserved in the east. He’ll take you down into the catacombs and the subterranean Ptolemaic necropolis, not forgetting to guide you round the three-storey cisterns, where he’ll explain that beneath the Alexandria of light, there exists another city of darkness and silence, where the waters of the Nile have flowed through a complex labyrinth since ancient times. SEVEN DAYS AT THE CECIL 13 “Sorial is tireless, and although he must be over seventy, he’ll walk the feet off you around the narrow alleyways of the Arab districts. If he should see that you are exhausted and ready to cry: ‘Enough!’, he’ll stop a passing horse- drawn carriage, stressing that, together with the tram, this is the most pleasant form of transport. He detests cars, and rarely uses his Citroen, a real antique, a throwback to mid- war technology. “But Sorial is also a lover of good food. A connoisseur of all things of quality, he knows where to find fresh fish, live lobster and huge crab. Of course, he’ll take you to the best places to eat the traditional fuul, with crispy pita bread, and falafel with tahini. This gastronomic tour will include an evening at the Santa Lucia, the San Giovanni and the renowned Élite, run by Madame Christina. “You’ll remember all these places, of course. They are old restaurants, perhaps even pre-war.” The words of the English publisher came back to me now as I was taken by surprise at Sorial’s welcome. I had not expected to meet him the minute I crossed the threshold of the Cecil Hotel.

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