The Jakubiyān building
The Jakubiyān-Bau (originally published in Arabic under the title ʿImārat Yaʿqūbiyān , Arabic: عمارة يعقوبيان) is a novel by the Egyptian writer Ala al-Aswani and was first published in 2002. The English translation followed in 2004, the German in 2007. Periods of life of different residents of the Jakubiyān building in Cairo in the 1990s are told that run parallel to each other. The book was filmed in 2006 under the title The Yacoubian Building .
Setting
The story takes place in Cairo , Egypt in the 1990s . Downtown Cairo was a commercial and social center until the 1970s. There were many foreign bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants. After that, however, the heart of Cairo shifted to the districts of al-Muhandassin and Nasr-City .
All protagonists are in some way connected to the Jakubiyān building. The Jakubiyān building was commissioned to build in 1934 by Hagop Jakubiyān, an Armenian millionaire on Sulaimān Pasha Street. It is a ten-story monument in the classic European style. Before the revolution of 1952, the high society of Egypt lived there, i.e. ministers, pashas, Jews and foreigners. In the course of the revolution, officers of the Egyptian armed forces moved into the Jakubiyān building. With the beginning of the 1970s and economic liberalization in Egypt, the upper class of society moved out of the inner city. This enabled poor Egyptians to move into small iron chambers on the roof of the Jakubiyān building, which previously served as storage rooms.
action
- Saki Bey al-Dassūki
The book begins with the story of Saki Bey, the youngest son of a prominent Wafd politician, who was Prime Minister in Egypt several times and belonged to the Egyptian upper class until the revolution in 1952. However, during the 1952 revolution, a large part of the family property was confiscated. Saki Bey himself enjoyed an apprenticeship abroad in France in his youth. He has an engineering office in the Jakubiyān building in downtown Cairo. He is described as an older man who is addicted to his sexual appetite for women and who has regular intercourse with women. Daulat, Saki Bey's older sister, displeases her brother's lavish and excessive lifestyle. She initiates incapacitation proceedings against Saki Bey in order to gain access to the common legacy of the father and the premises of Saki Bey in the Jakubiyān building before his death. Daulat bribed the responsible police headquarters and had Saki Bey and Buthaina arrested at short notice. In the end, Saki Bey finds his love in Buthaina and marries her.
- Taha al-Shāslis
Taha is a young man with good academic results. He grew up on the roof of the Jakubiyān building and would like to fulfill his childhood dream as a police officer after graduating from school. Taha and Buthaina have promised each other and are planning for their future together. Due to his father's job as a real estate guard, Taha is not accepted despite his good academic achievements. Although Taha files a complaint, he can no longer pursue his dream as a police officer and begins his studies at Cairo University in the Faculty of Economics and Political Science. There he befriends a number of young men who come from a similar social class and who are devout Muslims. Taha and Buthaina argue more and more and see each other less and less, whereupon they both decide to go their separate ways. As a result, Taha increasingly takes part in political demonstrations against the Egyptian government and its foreign policy during the First Gulf War. Taha now only operates in Islamist circles and is arrested by the Egyptian secret police after a demonstration. While in custody, Taha experienced both psychological and physical violence and torture. After his imprisonment, he became more and more radical and took up military training in an Islamist camp outside of Cairo. At the end of the story, Taha participates in an attack against the state security officer, in the course of which he himself is hit and dies.
- Buthaina al-Sajjid
Like Taha, Buthaina grew up on the roof of the Jakubiyān building and attended a commercial secondary school in Cairo. After the sudden death of her father, the family is suddenly destitute. After she received her diploma from the commercial secondary school, Buthaina got by with small part-time jobs and tried to support her family financially. She leaves her job every time due to sexual harassment in the work environment to which she is constantly exposed. In a clothing store, she finally comes to terms with the sexual advances of her superior. Buthaina is very bitter about her hopeless situation of only serving as an object of sexual desire. This bitterness leads Buthaina to start working for Saki Bey. After Taha heard about it and became aware of Saki Bey's dubious reputation, Buthaina and Taha split up. In the course of her time with Saki Bey, Buthaina finally finds in him the man who gives her security and who can also take care of her financially.
- Hātim Raschīd and Abduh
Hātim Raschīd is a journalist and editor-in-chief of a French magazine in Cairo. His mother was from France and his father was an Egyptian lawyer. During his childhood Hātim Rashīd experienced little affection from his parents and was looked after by domestic staff for most of his childhood. During this time he had his first homosexual experiences. As a grown man, Hātim Raschīd is in a homosexual relationship with Abduh, a young man from Upper Egypt who is doing his military service in Cairo. Hātim and Abduh are in a committed relationship that breaks up after Abduh's child, whom he has with his wife, dies in a hospital. Abduh then flees from Hātim and his previous life. Hātim finds Abduh again and persuades him to sleep with him one last time for money. After the sexual intercourse there is a violent argument between the two, in the course of which Abduh strangles Hātim.
- Hagg Muhammad Asām and Suād Gābir
Hagg Asam came to Cairo as a simple migrant worker from Sohag Province. After doing small jobs there for some time, he disappeared for twenty years and then returned as a rich man. He is the owner of two clothing stores, two automobile showrooms and other properties in downtown Cairo. Since he can no longer share his sexual desire, which has suddenly flared up again, with his wife, he decides to marry again. He marries Suād Gābir, a saleswoman from Alexandria who is divorced and already has a son. The marriage contract between the two stipulates, among other things, that the marriage will remain secret and that Suād will not have any further children from Hagg Asām. However, she soon becomes pregnant and surprises Hagg Asam with this news. After he tried unsuccessfully to persuade her to have an abortion, Suād is finally kidnapped to a hospital. Your child will be aborted there. After that, Hagg Asām separates from Suād. In addition to this private story, Hagg Asām also ran for the Egyptian parliament, into which he was elected with the support of another parliamentarian and lubricants. For this help, Hagg Asam is now blackmailed into surrendering 25% of every profit he makes with his business. After an initial protest, he gives in to this demand.
Reviews
The book The Jakubiyān Building has a circulation of over 100,000 copies, is considered a bestseller and has twice been voted the best novel in the Arab world. It has been translated into German, English, French and Italian, among others. After its filming under the direction of Marwan Hamed and a star cast and record budget, the story of the Jakubiyān building finally reached the general public.
literature
- Alaa al-Aswani: The Jakubijân building . From the Arabic by Hartmut Fähndrich . Lenos-Verlag 2007. 372 pages.
Individual evidence
- ↑ James Buchan: A street in the sky. The Guardian, February 17, 2007, accessed November 4, 2017 .
- ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Prostitution, Hypocrisy and Torture. March 11, 2007, accessed November 4, 2017 .