It was with great pleasure that we indulged, last Saturday, in a very warm session about the Imarat Yaqubian, or the Yacubian Building, in Cairo, set in a novel by Alaa al Aswany.Portuguese blog about the meeting:
http://nceo-nceo.blogspot.com/2011/01/os-pequenos-mundos-do-edificio.html
The Armenian name is given to an Egyptian building, and a small 'Egypt' lives inside this building, drawing a time and space parallel lines.
A book considered polemic by some, as it points out political, sexual and other Egyptian behaviours from the early 1900's to the Gulf War years (1990).
I simply adored it, and do recommend it to readers and people who love Egypt.
A movie was made in 2006 (trailer):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjUGskD-WW0
About the movie:
http://www.arabwashingtonian.org/english/article.php?articleID=117
http://osati.wordpress.com/2006/09/20/the-yacoubian-building-amaret-yacoubian/
Some interviews with the author are published online, here you can understand what drove him to write these characters:http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/may/31/alaa-al-aswany-interview
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/10/aswany-chicago-cairo-american
With video:
http://ideasaloft.com/view.php?video=6oAST47yn24&feature=youtube_gdata_player&title=Alaa+Al+Aswany%27s+The+Yacoubian+Building
More video interviews:
http://www.france24.com/en/20100327-interview-alaa-el-aswany-writer
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10364
He was among the protesters, this week, in Cairo:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112663450547321.html
I suggest anyone going to Egypt to read this book and do not get shocked as Egyptians are a colored people who have suffered many abuses either from politicians, either from misinterpretations of their authors, living abroad.
Pictures of the building online:
His most recent novel 'Chicago' was just banned in Palestine:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jmoed0lLT-LY7JWztAVf0II5PdZQ?docId=5745850
About 'Chicago':
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1710416,00.html
After 'Chicago' he has published a compilation of short stories:
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