** 41st book of 2021: Shallow Archeology **
What do the the last gasps of a civilization look like? One could argue that it resembles something like the Arab winter, with coups, civil war, broken families and rampant hate.
Hessler came to Egypt from a long tour in China just as the Arab world seemed ready to change. Mubarak had stepped down, and free and fair elections were about to be held.
For a book with the title ‘The Buried’ I would have hoped for more understanding of Egypt’s context. Like an oil driller willing only to scratch the surface or dig miles beneath, Hesser misses the most interesting geology sitting just beneath the surface. He all but ignores Islam, post-colonialism and pan-Arabism to spend time pondering ancient Egypt, a culture with as much relevance to modern Cairo as the Picts to modern London. He plays this up as a choice not to learn Fusha (standard Arabic) but in doing so renders himself effectively illiterate in a culture known for its high literature.
Instead he tells an oral history from people he meets like Manu, a gay translator or Said, a local garbage man. For one unacquainted with Egypt, the stories are compelling. Yet unlike China, Egypt’s stories remain little changed from generation to generation. Thus Hessler’s vignettes are better covered by Egyptian authors such as Alaa Al Aswany (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/128711.The_Yacoubian_Building?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=A4V2SEXjwf&rank=1) or anything by Naguib Mahfouz.
Once he finds Chinese traders, he finds a willing audience to look scornfully down upon Arab culture, from both the Chinese and American vantage points. * Here in Egypt, home to more than 90 million people where western development aid and billions of dollars have pourn in for decades…. [why was the first plastics recycling plant] established by two Chinese migrants, one of them illiterate, and one of them with a 5th grade education? * These are fair criticisms, but the flippancy with which they are cast as well as Hessler’s exasperation with a more conservative religious culture left a sour taste.
From the western vantage, it’s hard to find positives in the Arab world when compared with China’s unprecedented rise. Even if we are watching the slow motion unraveling of Arab civilization, true insight remains buried even after finishing this book.