Kenneth A. Loparo 
The Intellectual and the People in Egyptian Literature and Culture 
Am?ra and the 2011 Revolution

The Intellectual and the People in Egyptian Literature and Culture uses the notion of am?ra – the Egyptian concept of collective and connective agency – to explore the relationship between the Egyptian intellectual and ‘the people’ in contemporary Egyptian literature and culture.

Table of Content

Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: Intellectuals, Representation, Connective Agency PART I: THE INTELLECTUAL AND THE QUEST FOR AM?RA 1. Am?ra: Concept, Cultural Practice and Aesthetic 2. Signature or Cartouche? Dilemmas of the Egyptian Intellectual PART II: THE PEOPLE AND THE AM?RA OF CONNECTIVE AGENCY 3. The People Already Know: Positionality of the Intellectual, Connective Agency and Cultural Memory 4. The Am?ra on the Square: Some Reflections Post 25 January 2011 Postscript: I?n? al-ma?riyy?n and al-sha?b: The Untranslatabilities of Conceptual Languages Bibliography Index ?

About the author

Ayman A. El-Desouky is Senior Lecturer in Modern Arabic and Comparative Literature and Founding Chair of the Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS, 2009-2012) at SOAS, University of London, UK. He has lectured at the University of Texas at Austin (1993-1995), the Johns Hopkins University (1995-1996) and at Harvard University (1996-2002) before he moved to London. He is currently preparing a book-length study on Figuring the Sacred in the Modern Arabic Novel.