Author: Mujib Elrahman Amer

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).

In our analysis of Duha’s novel, told to Bahaa Taher, we concluded the last episode with a scene highlighting the contrasting parallel between the abandoned coffee shop and the bean sandwich shop in “Suleiman” Square, as the narrator chose to call it. As for the comparison of the crowd of customers in front of the bean shop to a demonstration, we see it as a meaningful analogy: it is not only about the large number of people, but also that the word “demonstration” here does not have a political or social connotation, but rather expresses a basic need: food. This…