THE WRITERS IN THE ALLEY: by Alan Lensink Dalhousie

123 Pages·2011·0.81 MB·English

by  Tammy Whyte

THE WRITERS IN THE ALLEY:
STATE LEGITIMACY AND LITERATURE IN NASSER‘S EGYPT, 1952-1967

by

Alan Lensink

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts

at

Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
August 2011

© Copyright by Alan Lensink, 2011
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and recommend to the Faculty of
Graduate Studies for acceptance a thesis entitled ―The Writers in the Alley: State
Legitimacy and Literature in Nasser‘s Egypt, 1952-1967‖ by Alan Lensink in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

Dated: August 8, 2011
Supervisor: _________________________________
Readers: _________________________________
_________________________________

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DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

DATE: August 8, 2011
AUTHOR: Alan Lensink
TITLE: The Writers in the Alley: State Legitimacy and Literature in Nasser‘s
Egypt, 1952-1967
DEPARTMENT OR SCHOOL: Department of History
DEGREE: MA CONVOCATION: October YEAR: 2011

Permission is herewith granted to Dalhousie University to circulate and to have copied
for non-commercial purposes, at its discretion, the above title upon the request of
individuals or institutions. I understand that my thesis will be electronically available to
the public.

The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts
from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author‘s written permission.

The author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted
material appearing in the thesis (other than the brief excerpts requiring only proper
acknowledgement in scholarly writing), and that all such use is clearly acknowledged.
_______________________________
Signature of Author

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Soli Deo gloria
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT……....… ....................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ............................................................................... vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. viii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2 BLUNTING THE SCALPEL: POLITICS AND THE FICTION OF
YUSUF IDRIS FROM 1954 TO 1960 ............................................................................. 18
CHAPTER 3 NAGUIB MAHFOUZ, STATE PATRONAGE, AND BENEVOLENT
AUTHORITARIANISM FROM 1952 TO 1959 .............................................................. 46
CHAPTER 4 ―THE CRISIS OF THE INTELLECTUALS‖ AND THE BID FOR
HEGEMONY FROM 1961 TO 1967 ............................................................................... 69
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION........................................................................................... 97
BIBLIOGRAPHY…… ................................................................................................... 103
PRIMARY SOURCES ..................................................................................................... 103
SECONDARY SOURCES ................................................................................................ 106
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ABSTRACT
In 1952 Gamal Abdel Nasser and his clique of disaffected young officers
launched ‗the Free Officer‘s Coup,‘ deposing the monarchy, overturning the
parliamentary system, and launching a durable regime that defined the face of Egypt in
the second half of the twentieth century. This thesis examines the relationship between
Nasser and Egypt‘s intellectuals, and takes preeminent writers Naguib Mahfouz and
Yusuf Idris to reveal the social environment in which this relationship took place. The
literary and historical evidence reveals a lively relationship of contestation, critique,
accommodation, dependence, and acclamation. Promulgating reformist domestic policies
and defiantly nationalist foreign policies, Nasser earned legitimization from intellectuals.
His regime endeavored to establish hegemony over Egyptian civil society, an effort
resisted and repulsed by intellectuals. Inspired by the most relevant theoretical literature
on intellectuals, namely the work of Julien Benda, Antonio Gramsci, and Edward Said,
this thesis reveals responsibilities and challenges faced by intellectuals everywhere.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED
ASU Arab Socialist Union
DMNL Democratic Movement of National Liberation
RCC Revolutionary Command Council
UAR United Arab Republic
UECP Unified Egyptian Communist Party
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Amal Ghazal for supervising my thesis, especially
helping me get acclimatized to Middle Eastern history, for her hard work on my SSHRC
application, and her encouraging supervision. Thanks are also due to Dr. Jamie Whidden
and Dr. Philip Zachernuk for serving on my defense committee, asking substantive
questions and offering thoughtful suggestions. And most especially I would like to thank
my fiancée Larisa Baylis for her love, patience, support and encouragement during my
studies.
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
When the Free Officers seized control of Egypt on July 23, 1952 and deposed
King Faruq two days later, they overturned a political order that had lasted for 150 years.
Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser had a small reputation for his brave conduct in the Arab-
Israeli war of 1948. Anwar Sadat, Abdel Hakem Amer, Ali Sabry, and the other Free
Officers were virtually unknown. None had rank higher than that of Colonel and none
were over forty years old. Despite their youth, modest rank, inexperience, and obscure
origins, the Officers aimed to transform their country; to free Egypt from poverty,
corruption, and a de facto British occupation. Recognizing their disadvantages, the Free
Officers wisely recruited popular General Mohammed Naguib to serve as the public face
of the Free Officers movement. However, it would take more than a popular general to
grant prestige and authority to men who lacked both popular mandate and royal lineage.
Thus the Free Officers launched their populist revolution in the name of the Egyptian
people, casting themselves as the guardians of the nation. If the people rejected their role,
the Free Officers could expect to be removed in a revolution, a counter-coup, or royalist
revival. They required popular consent and they required legitimacy, a widespread
acceptance of the lawfulness of their governing role. The business of accepting or
rejecting the Officer‘s legitimacy fell to all Egyptians, especially to those who enjoyed
access to resources, and a measure of responsibility, authority, or influence. Among
these, intellectuals, those who occupied themselves with thought and the dissemination of
ideas, played a role of particular importance in determining whether a cohort of obscure
officers were indeed the lawful rulers of Egypt.
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The present study explores the consolidation of political legitimacy within the
Egyptian intellectual scene from 1952 to 1967. Paying particular attention to the two
foremost writers of this period, Naguib Mafhouz and Yusuf Idris, this study takes the
intellectual milieu of Nasser‘s Egypt as its subject, and explores how intellectuals
responded to the claims of Nasser and his cohort. Examining the extension of their rule
into the realm of thought, belief, and meaning, this study traces how intellectuals
negotiated, accommodated, and critiqued this expansion. This study argues that the
Nasser and his ruling clique were successful in consolidating popular legitimacy, and that
intellectuals largely accepted their claim to rightfully rule on behalf of Egyptians.
However, this acceptance was not an easy transaction, and this acceptance emerged from
a fiercely contested struggle between political elites and intellectual elites throughout this
period. Although they contested the claims of government and critiqued its authoritarian
excesses, intellectuals largely accepted and accommodated being governed by Nasser and
the Free Officers. Intellectuals chafed at the suspension of civil liberties and the
suppression of freedom of speech, but appropriated the Officers‘ promise to bring about
liberation, social justice, modernity, and a rational, secular social order. Intellectuals were
persuaded to support the new political order and their support contributed to the
durability of the revolutionary regime.
By following literary source material closely and comparing it with the political
record, this thesis reveals how the Nasser regime sought to persuade or convince
intellectuals to grant legitimacy to its rule, to which intellectuals either complied in light
of the regime‘s reformist agenda and successes, or else denied it in light of the regime‘s
authoritarian stance towards civil society. However, this thesis also posits that underlying
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