About the Blog
The Blog is named after Naguib Mahfouz controversial novel " Awlad Haratina " (Children of Our Alley) . Children of Our Alley is told from the point of view of a narrator, himself one of the children of the alley. He first introduces himself in the preface of the book. He is entrusted, by the alley, to put into writing its rich history. Unlike all the other characters whose stories he tells, the narrator remains nameless throughout. The preface ends with :
"I am the first in the alley to have made a profession of writing, although it earned me a great deal of scorn and sarcasm. My job is to write down the complaints of those who are oppressed or in need. Although many unfortunate people come to me, I have been unable to raise myself above the general level of our beggars; but I have gained a heart-breaking knowledge of many people's secret sorrows. However, I am not writing about myself and my troubles, which is nothing compared with those of the alley."
This blog is a tribute to Naguib's words and thoughts, his vision that a writer is the consciousness of the nation, the recorder of its collective memory and underground history. You cant write history until you have spoken to its people, not till you know their secret sorrows and unfullfilled passions. Like the recorded words of the Naguib’s narrator and with Cairo as my "Alley" this blog is an attempt to record Cairo and other parts of Egypt, through the eyes of a strangers who will make this city her home for the next year.
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