“Alexandria Trilogy”: A Mirror of Variations in Group Relations in Egypt’s Modern Society

Abstract

Abstract Egyptian writer Ibrahim Abdel Meguid’s best-known works form the “Alexandria Trilogy”: No One Sleeps in Alexandria (1996), Birds of Amber (2000), and Clouds Over Alexandria (2011). The Trilogy is set in three important historical periods: the Second World War, the Suez Crisis in 1956, and the 1970s. It focuses on describing the rise and fall of Alexandria, an ancient and modern city, from its heyday to its decline, from diversity to extremes, thus reflecting the writer’s deep concern about the Islamic radical thoughts flooding the city. The city of Alexandria is the main place and clue that runs through the three novels from beginning to end. The writer compares the landscape of the same city in different periods in the Trilogy, giving the space the ability to speak for itself, and it fluctuates in the whirlpool of the times. Whether it is telling the fate of characters, recording the history of the city, or describing spatial changes, the core idea conveyed by the Trilogy is that the city has gradually evolved from an open and prosperous modern international city in the past into a depressing place of gloom, and its contemporary history holds a mirror up to the changing nature of ethnic relations in Egypt.