The Writing of Lives. an Ethnography of Writers and Their Milieus in Alexandria

WORKING papersNo. 17, 2016 The writing of lives. An ethnography of writers and their milieus in Alexandria Samuli Schielke and Mukhtar Saad Shehata Egypt’s thwarted revolution of 2011 has invited in- tions. First: how do specific institutional, cultural creased international interest in Egyptian cultural generational and class milieus contribute to the production (ib da` in Arabic). There has been some making of literary careers, sociality and aesthet- well-deserved attention to art works and music, ics? Second: what kind of productive relationships slogans and poems, blogs and novels, and those can be observed between literary writing and the producing or making use of them – especially in crafting of life trajectories? the context of the revolutionary uprising.1 Much of Building on the work of scholars who have stud- this attention has been rather selective, however. ied the relationship of cultural production with in- International interest in contemporary Egyptian stitutional power, ideology and morals, class, and cultural production has tended to highlight specif- generation and age (e.g. Bourdieu 1998; Armbrust ic scenes that seem to harmonise with the tastes 1996; Abu-Lughod 2005; Winegar 2006; Jacque- and desires of a liberal-left international audience mond 2008; Mehrez 2010; Olszewska 2015; Eick- (for a critique, see Eickhof 2016). And yet most hoff 2016), we argue that literary writing is related cultural production in Egypt is grounded in other to intimate and social lives in a complex way that configurations of aesthetics and politics, and takes calls for an analysis that may bring together struc- place outside the internationally visible cosmopol- turing power relations, social mores, existential itan scene. To understand how artistic and literary motivations, the circulation of texts and genres, imagination is part of social dynamics – and con- class habitus, gender, and individual idiosyncra- tinuities – it is imperative to expand the scope of sies. inquiry. The writers we write about do not belong to the Based on our ongoing ethnographic fieldwork most famous names of Egyptian literature. This with writers in Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, is a conscious choice. Stardom is rare and excep- we focus in this article on two literary circles and tional. Most writers gain at best a modest share of a handful of writers from the city. Exploring their fame and success it in the course of their careers. different takes on literary aesthetics, institutions, Egyptian literature of the 20th century posited morals and politics, we search to answer two ques- a figure of the author who is on the one hand a romantic individualist, a gifted genius producing from out of his or her authentic experience and 1 See, e.g., Mehrez 2012; Colla 2012; Schanda 2013. In the inspiration, and on the other hand, a committed field of writing, bloggers in particular have gained signifi- citizen acting as a »conscience of the nation« and cant attention (see, e.g. Hirschkind 2011; Pepe 2014; Jurkie- as part of an »army of the letters« (Jacquemond wicz 2012), partly because blogging was instrumental for the shift of language and style that marked the first decade 2008). In the course of early 21st century, this as- of the online era in Arabic writing that coincided with the pired unity of aesthetic autonomy and national- 2011 uprisings. Blogs also provide a more durable record ist commitment has increasingly eroded (al-Dabʿ for study than other forms of online writing. By the time of 2016). It was never uncontested in the first place, this writing, the short golden age of blogs is already over in and different understandings of the role of the Egypt, and blogs have become one online medium among others, accompanied and at times overshadowed by more writer and the meaning and purpose of literature transient formats like Twitter and Facebook (Pepe 2014: 47). have competed for space for a long time in Egypt Kirchweg 33, D-14129 Berlin ZMO 2016 Telefon: 030-80307-0 Fax: 030-80307-210 Internet: www.zmo.de E-Mail: [email protected] (Jacquemond 2008). But the past two decades have The most immediate and tangible level of soci- witnessed a growing split within the literary land- ality is what we call circles, the specific cultural scape, polarised between public sector institutions and literary gatherings of like-minded people, of- and authors committed to a rather conservative ten combining friendship and shared interest, and version of 20th century modernist aspirations on constantly in process of fragmentation and forma- the one hand, and a so-called independent cultural tion. Any given author would be likely to move in scene marked by more experimental and cosmo- several circles but be more at home in some than politan aesthetics, on the other. (The »independent in others. Circles include formal literary groups scene« is properly speaking only independent from (gamaʿa adabiya) but also the powerful social in- the Ministry of Culture, and usually highly de- stitution of the shilla, »clique« (de Koning 2009; pendent on international and private funding. Cul- Morsi 2009; Kreil 2012: 113-115), a more or less tural production is always dependent on power ful closed group of friends who gather frequently and others, be it through funding and patronage or the often also encourage and assist each other in their market. See Eickhof 2016; Winegar 2006). This split professional and other pursuits. Circles typically is far from absolute of course, and at a closer look come together and share in what we call scenes: the literary landscape is made of a large number assemblages of physical and virtual sites where of small circles of friends, institutions with their cultural production comes together, is made pos- regular crowds, and regular meeting places which sible and encouraged: cultural centres, art spaces, are in a constant process of fragmentation and cafés, organisations, online groups and networks.2 rearrangement. But there is a tangible polarising On a higher level of abstraction, we speak of the tendency that corresponds in a complex way with milieu: the wider social space that includes not just generational experience, class and political posi- the literary space but also generational experience tioning. This tendency has been further magnified and class socialisation of people participating in in the aftermath of 2011. In the course of our field- that space.3 All these levels of sociality are to some work, we began to use the shorthand expressions degree exclusionary, and are defined against each »conservative« and »avant-garde« for the extremes other as well as against the wider social main- of this split. Writers themselves would often rather stream. In colloquial Egyptian parlance of the ur- distinguish between good literature (that is, the lit- ban bourgeoisie,4 this wider mainstream against erature they produce and appreciate) and bad literature (produced by people in other circles). It appears tempting – and indeed promising – to 2 Rather than being parallel or alternatives to face-to face study this split as a competition for symbolic cap- gatherings and material scenes, online networks commonly work as their extensions, involving people in the sociality ital within the literary field and, by extension, the of a circle even when they cannot be physically present. wider field of political and social power with the The limits of online communication and sociality are more tools offered by Pierre Bourdieu (1984; 1998). Such fluid and usually less exclusive than, say, a gathering in a an analysis is necessary but not sufficient. Writ- café. Online networks have allowed people who only rarely ing is an essentially social practice made possible physically frequent cultural spaces to get at least partially involved in some of their activities. They have also resulted and limited by the milieus and the fields of power in interesting transformations of the writer-reader relation in which the writer acts in her or his capacity as (Pepe 2015). a writer. But writers are also commonly non-con- 3 A milieu in this sense is neither a clearly marked social forming, exceptional figures who are drawn to the structure nor a continuous tradition. Rather, it is something work of literary imagination for various reasons. like a sociological reading of the phenomenological notion of the lifeworld (or, alternatively, a phenomenological read- Although Egyptian writers often hope to speak for ing of Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and social field): the the society, they are seldom read and heard – with coming together of specific formative contexts, traditions, the exception of a handful of literary stars. Writ- powers and materialities in intersubjective experience. ers may be respected but also considered foolish 4 Today, the term middle class is used to describe so many and weird by their relatives and colleagues (much different social strata and groups that we find it no longer helpful to locate people socially. (Although it remains very depends on the specifics of family and professional useful as a way to understand social aspiration.) Poor people socialisation in a way that is influenced by but not with higher education but few material means may see them- reducible to class positioning). Only in exceptional selves as middle class, and so may rich and powerful people, cases they may gain wealth and fame. How to un- including judges, military officers and businesspeople. In derstand the motivations and consequences of writ- Egypt, the English term middle class or upper middle class is usually used to describe people who stand clearly above the ing in a society where there are much more effective middle income strata: they live in affluent neighbourhoods of and profitable ways to find success and recognition? major cities, have superior educational and economic capital, This idiosyncratic, non-deterministic aspect re- and come from families that earn their living in well-income quires a more existential approach that highlights positions in the public sector, white-collar positions in the intersubjective experience (see, e.g.

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