Η εικόνα των Αράβων στην ελληνική αιγυπτιώτικη λογοτεχνία

Abstract

Early, the location of Alexandria made it one of the most important cultural centers of Europe and the Middle East. The city already began to be mytholized from the early twentieth century. A considerable number of writers coined the town in the work according with the way he himself had imagined, gaining a significant presence in world literature. Alexandria is now considered as benchmark in Egyptiotic or (Greek-Egyptian) and Egyptian literature. In this city various people from different races and cultures lived together, Arabs, Greeks, Italians, British, other Europeans, and Jews. Their coexistence, based on a conciliatory policy, was chosen by themselves. On this basis, the Alexandrian city became a perfect venue of coexistence of different nationalities and religions, a mosaic and a melting pot of different races and cultures.Alexandria, in the nineteenth and twentieth century, was defined by the strong presence of the Greeks. The great progressive leader Mouhammad Ali invited to Egypt, especially at Alexandria, people of different nationalities, especially Greeks, utilizing their skills in different areas, but mainly in the economic development of the country. This legendary city was created by the writers, whether they were born there or were simply passers by.There are many writers, Egyptians and Egyptiotes (Greek-Egyptian), who worked, in a systematic way in relation to Alexandria. Regarding the attitude of Cavafy towards the town, one can say that the Alexandrian poet had a special love for the city where he was born and lived most of his life. In his work, among all the great Hellenistic cities of the East, stands Alexandria, which is for him an ambiguous symbol. Alexandria of Cavafy as a modern city was a melting pot of the Egyptian population and numerous minority communities. Cavafy could not but try to understand that particular similarity between modern Alexandria and the changing character of the Hellenistic empires. But his insight could capture the effects of successive waves of evolution. He knew that modern Alexandria would ineluctably lose its ephemeral Greek colour.

Η παρουσία των Αράβων δεν είναι καθόλου καινούριο στοιχείο στην ελληνική λογοτεχνία, καθώς εμφανίζεται ήδη από την αρχαία ελληνική γραμματεία , και συγκεκριμένα στους Πέρσες του Αισχύλου, ενώ υπάρχουν μελέτες που ερευνούν το αραβικό στοιχείο στο έργο ενός πολύ γνωστού μεταπολεμικού Αιγυπτιώτη συγγραφέα, του Στρατή Τσίρκα. Χαρακτηριστικά είναι τα μελετήματα του Καραμπέτσου «Stratis Tsirkas and the Arabs». Mε τίτλο «Η εικόνα των Αράβων στην ελληνική αιγυπτιώτικη λογοτεχνία» σκοπεύει στη διερεύνηση της παρουσίας του Άλλου, των Αράβων εν προκειμένω, και στον τρόπο που αυτοί αναπαριστώνται στην αιγυπτιώτικη λογοτεχνία, από τα τέλη του 19ου έως τα τέλη περίπου του 20ού αιώνα. Η συγκεκριμένη διατριβή εστιάζει την προσοχή της σε περιόδους και σε Αιγυπτιώτες λογοτέχνες που δεν έχουν διεξοδικά μελετηθεί έτσι ώστε να διερευνηθεί ευρύτερα η εικόνα του Άραβα, ως Άλλου, έτσι όπως τη μορφοποίησαν οι δημιουργοί και την προσέλαβε το ελληνικό αναγνωστικό κοινό.