{"id":75656,"date":"2014-08-20T11:49:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T15:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=75656"},"modified":"2014-08-20T17:55:15","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T21:55:15","slug":"the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case of the Arabic Noirs"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>\/* <![CDATA[ *\/ portfolio_slideshow.slideshows[499] = {\"timeout\":\"4000\",\"autoplay\":\"false\",\"trans\":\"fade\",\"loop\":\"true\",\"speed\":\"400\",\"nowrap\":\"true\"}; \/* ]]> *\/<\/script><div id=\"slideshow-wrapper499\" class=\"slideshow-wrapper clearfix portfolio-slideshow-centered\">\n<div id=\"slideshow-nav499\" class=\"slideshow-nav\">\n\t<a class=\"pause\" style=\"display:none\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\">Pause<\/a>\n\t<a class=\"play\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\">Play<\/a>\n\t<a class=\"restart\" style=\"display:none\" href=\"javascript: void(0);\">Play<\/a>\n\t<a class=\"slideshow-prev\" href=\"javascript: void(0);\">Prev<\/a>\n\t<span class=\"sep\">|<\/span>\n\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" href=\"javascript: void(0);\">Next<\/a>\n\t<span class=\"slideshow-info499 slideshow-info\"><\/span>\n<\/div><!-- .slideshow-nav -->\n<div id=\"portfolio-slideshow499\" class=\"portfolio-slideshow\" style=\"\">\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-next slideshow-content \">\n\t\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"psp-active\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/2.pocketbooks2.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/2.pocketbooks2.jpg\" height=\"600\" width=\"429\" alt=\"Slide 1\"><\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-next slideshow-content not-first\">\n\t\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" 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data-img=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/14.policemansdread.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" height=\"600\" width=\"415\" alt=\"Slide 14\"><\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-next slideshow-content not-first\">\n\t\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"psp-active\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/15.impossible-man.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" height=\"600\" width=\"481\" alt=\"Slide 15\"><\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"slideshow-meta\">\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n<\/div><\/div><!--#slideshow-wrapper-->\n<p>Cairo: the metal detector beeps. The security man wears a crisp white uniform. He nods and leans back in his chair. The lobby\u2019s red oriental carpet, so worn it\u2019s barely red, leads upstairs to the hotel tavern. Enter the glass doors, where a cat in a smart bow tie and vest reaches for a lonely bottle behind the bar. He takes his time; he\u2019s been polishing glasses at the Windsor Hotel for thirty-eight years. Out the window, a motorcycle speeds through the dark alley. In 1893, this joint was ritzy\u2014home to the royal baths, steps from the original Cairo Opera House. Tonight it\u2019s dingy enough that Philip Marlowe might come here to tip a few back after clobbering some hoods. A fine joint in which to pore over pulp from the secondhand book market down the street.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s tempting to ponder the relevance of crime novels in contemporary Egypt. The 2011 revolution began on National Police Day as a revolt against the fuzz. When President Hosni Mubarak breezed off eighteen days later, the police dusted, too, leaving behind a Wild West. Gun sales skyrocketed, matched by holdups and carjackings. In the following two years, thugs ran Cairo\u2019s streets. Ever since General Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi ousted former President Mohammed Morsi last summer, the coppers have been back in full force. White uniformed police operate checkpoints littered throughout the capital like discarded Coke cans. Cabbies are so scared that they\u2019ve started wearing seat belts. And now, as authorities attempt to restore law and order, the crime genre is making a comeback. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Pulp emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. In the U.S., the twenties and thirties were the heyday of gumshoe thrillers, as Chandler and Hammett wrote detective stories for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/27\/some-pulp\/\"><em>Black Mask<\/em><\/a>. At the same time, Egyptian writers and translators produced thousands of unauthorized paperbacks, capped off with covers as lurid as their Western cousins\u2019. In Cairo, each publishing house boasted hundreds of serials. <a href=\"http:\/\/oumcartoon.tumblr.com\/post\/90149355641\/double-crime-and-the-punishment-at-cairos\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Double Crime<\/em><\/a>, for instance, a 1967 Arabic translation of the best-selling American novelist Norman Daniels, was number 420 in one publisher\u2019s World Stories imprint. From Alfred Hitchcock and <em>Charade <\/em>to works of forgotten French and British novelists, anything and everything was translated into Arabic. The mass-market trend continued into the seventies, when sci-fi, Westerns, and spy novels began to outsell the tall tales of dizzying, melodramatic dames.<\/p>\n<p>The golden age of illicit crime fiction translation\u2014from the 1890s through the 1960s\u2014corresponds to the construction of the Egyptian nation, from colonial rule and monarchy to President Gamal Abdel Nasser\u2019s nationalization project. It\u2019s the period when the Egyptian novel was canonized with stories of national consensus and the patriarchy: quite different than hotheaded genre fiction.<\/p>\n<p>These translated thrillers captivated Egyptian readers in part because they shined a torch on the contested legal system of colonialism. The plots would be familiar to those who watch <em>The Wire<\/em>\u2014inefficient courts, bumbling officers, the law\u2019s futility in the face of crime. A classic example is Tawfik Al-Hakim\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.saqibooks.co.uk\/book\/diary-of-a-country-prosecutor\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Diary of a Country Prosecutor<\/em><\/a>, a 1947 novel that\u2019s part biographical, part hard-boiled, with a dash of bitters thrown in. The prosecutor waxes cynical about the legal institutions of British colonialism. In a satirical courthouse scene, Al-Hakim demonstrates the law\u2019s worthlessness in the Nile Delta, where rural Egyptians are \u201crequired to submit to a modern legal system imported from abroad.\u201d As in James M. Cain\u2019s <em>Double Indemnity<\/em>, the law here can be fudged; the real disputes are settled outside of court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese novels form a tradition of legal muckraking,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/static.squarespace.com\/static\/52dc0cc7e4b0e34b862ece81\/t\/52f62792e4b086cbdc0bf244\/1391863698929\/Colla-Anxious%20Advocacy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">writes<\/a> Elliott Colla, chair of Georgetown\u2019s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and the author of a new thriller, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitterlemonpress.com\/new-books\/american-crime-fiction\/baghdad-central.asp\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Baghdad Central<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWriting fiction about impolite or contentious social issues became an alternative way of addressing problems normally resolved through legal deliberation and action.\u201d The stories of prosecutors and shamuses portrayed the ambiguity of law and order. All crime novels are political.<\/p>\n<p>From the turn of the nineteenth century to the 1940s, Egyptian readers \u201chad been accustomed to a steady stream of detective pulp fiction,\u201d writes Colla. The remains of that vast canon are still strewn across the country. On a <a href=\"http:\/\/oumcartoon.tumblr.com\/post\/83531013313\/egyptian-noir-paperbacks-murder-thriller-arabic\" target=\"_blank\">recent trip<\/a> to Alexandria, I watched a hardened bookseller, a cigarette dangling from his lip, unload three grimy suitcases packed with English thrillers: <em>The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, The Kiss-off<\/em>, <em>Casino Royale<\/em>, <em>House Dick<\/em>, and dozens more. At the next stall, a table offered Arabic titles, with monikers like <em>The Corpse, Floozy from Paris, Secret of Radium, and Lust for Murder<\/em>. Each cover is more craven than the last: gun-slinging babes, gambling sexpots, smoking revolvers. The back covers offer red-hot teasers. \u201cA police story of fantastic events \u2026\u2009\u201d \u201cThe life of a French prostitute \u2026\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s too soon to speak of the Arabic noir\u2019s resurgence, but there are clues. Ahmed Mourad\u2019s 2007 novel <em>Vertigo<\/em> is a fine place to start<em>.<\/em> Mourad snapped photos for former President Hosni Mubarak; like Egyptian thriller writers of the forties, Mourad comes from an elite perch and knowingly comments on law and order in a lawless place, reviving tropes long beloved by Egyptian readers. (In reviewing <em>Vertigo<\/em>, one writer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2011\/nov\/13\/hosni-mubarak-ahmed-mourad-egypt\" target=\"_blank\">falsely called<\/a> the thriller \u201ca genre largely unknown in the Arab world.\u201d He must not have visited Cairo\u2019s book markets.) <em>Vertigo<\/em> begins in the rotating top-floor restaurant of the same name, situated in a posh Nile hotel. The protagonist, a down-and-out wedding photographer named Ahmed, sneaks a cigarette on the balcony as two heavyweights hold a private powwow at the bar. Suddenly, hatchet men break in and pump the goons with metal. The ensuing bloodbath leaves a pile of stiffs, including the house pianist, Ahmed\u2019s best pal. This is a grimy look at the underbelly of Mubarak\u2019s crony capitalism\u2014the book is a best seller and has been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/uk\/vertigo-english-9789992194294\" target=\"_blank\">translated<\/a> to English.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_75673\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75673\" class=\"wp-image-75673\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg\" alt=\"Metro: A Story of Cairo, Magdy El-Shafee, 2007. Third printing by the Comic Shop, Cairo, 2011. \" width=\"250\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg 436w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_-218x300.jpg 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-75673\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><small><i>Metro: A Story of Cairo<\/i>, Magdy El-Shafee, 2007. Third printing by the Comic Shop, Cairo, 2011. <\/small><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Another modern-day equivalent of pulp is the graphic novel\u2014an emerging medium that illustrates the divey corners that sleuths and skirts frequented a half century ago. <em>Metro<\/em>, by Magdy El-Shafee, is known as the original Arabic adult comic book, and it\u2019s a kind of Cairo noir: on the first page, a beleaguered young computer programmer decides to rob a bank. When it was first published in 2007, Egyptian authorities seized all copies from the publisher, though the reason remains a mystery. Was it the narrator\u2019s harsh antiregime attitude, his use of nudity and expletives, or the publisher\u2019s activist reputation? The book was republished in Cairo after Hosni Mubarak took a fall, but it\u2019s still hard to find in Arabic. (It\u2019s on sale worldwide in <a href=\"http:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/metro\/MagdyElShafee\" target=\"_blank\">translation<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the reason for the comic\u2019s censorship, its notoriety provoked other young artists to engage with noir aesthetics in telling contemporary stories of depravity. Ganzeer, the pseudonym of a thirty-two-year-old graphic artist whose art installations and graffiti are landmarks in Cairo and elsewhere, is inspired by <em>Metro<\/em>\u2019s antihero. \u201cOf course you could relate to someone opposing the government, opposing the police, more so than you can relate to this idea of a noble police officer who has to solve crimes for the greater good,\u201d Ganzeer has said. This is the common thread between the new graphic novels and noirs of old: don\u2019t trust the law.<\/p>\n<p>In May, Ganzeer decided to skip town. A jingoistic Egyptian TV host <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/online\/blogs\/newsdesk\/2014\/05\/picturing-the-next-president-of-egypt.html#slide_ss_0=1\" target=\"_blank\">put a finger<\/a> on the artist. On live television, that gangster TV anchor disclosed Ganzeer\u2019s real name and aired his photo, in retribution for antiregime graffiti. Ganzeer is now in New York, having drifted from one noir city to another.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_75674\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/18.aptbablukcover.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75674\" class=\"wp-image-75674\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/18.aptbablukcover.jpg\" alt=\"The Apartment in Bab El-Louk, by Donia Maher, Ganzeer, Ahmed Nady, Merit Publishing House, Cairo, 2014. \" width=\"250\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/18.aptbablukcover.jpg 433w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/18.aptbablukcover-216x300.jpg 216w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-75674\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><small><i>The Apartment in Bab El-Louk<\/i>, by Donia Maher Ganzeer, Ahmed Nady, 2014. <\/small><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ganzeer\u2019s latest publication is a hard-boiled graphic novella written by Donia Maher, a Cairo-based writer, entitled <a href=\"http:\/\/wordswithoutborders.org\/graphic-lit\/the-apartment-in-bab-el-louk\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Apartment in Bab El-Louk<\/em><\/a>. Ganzeer elegantly laid out the text, the scattered rantings of an agoraphobic misanthrope, more poetry than prose\u2014alongside images of the gritty downtown flat. You\u2019re forced to listen to the anonymous narrator, screaming at unwanted visitors, neighbors and maids who knock on the door of the cramped apartment. Hitchcock might have conjured up such a neurotic character, a dark face peeping out the window at a quarrel on the street below. \u201cYou\u2019ll be scared, even though you\u2019ve locked the door,\u201d says the narrator, speaking with brevity that portends doom.<\/p>\n<p>The last eight pages of this <a href=\"http:\/\/arablit.wordpress.com\/2014\/02\/03\/ganzeer-on-the-visual-language-of-the-apartment-in-bab-el-louk\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cfabulous noir poem,\u201d<\/a> as its been called, feature a comic by Ahmed Nady. He\u2019s an insurgent graffiti artist and illustrator of grotesque political caricature, the perfect guy to draw a shakedown at the hands of corrupt cops. In his comic, we learn that the reclusive narrator has been murdered. The cops bust into the joint. But they pinch a patsy, an innocent neighbor, rather than the real culprit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cops are not the heroes in this story \u2026 That\u2019s not the way things roll in Cairo. You don\u2019t have an investigator; you don\u2019t have a private eye, or whatever. You\u2019re totally on your own,\u201d Ganzeer said in April, in his Cairo studio, beside a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf of English and Arabic comics. He emphasized the pervasive antipolice violence that climaxed during January 2011 uprising: \u201cPeople went and burned down every single police station.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_75675\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/19.aptbabluk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75675\" class=\"wp-image-75675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/19.aptbabluk.jpg\" alt=\"The Apartment in Bab El-Louk, by Donia Maher, Ganzeer, Ahmed Nady, Merit Publishing House, Cairo, 2014. This is a detail of Ganzeer\u2019s illustration.\" width=\"250\" height=\"176\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/19.aptbabluk.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/19.aptbabluk-300x211.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-75675\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><small>Detail from Ganzeer\u2019s illustration.<\/small><\/p><\/div>\n<p>From the Semiramis Hotel\u2019s lobby, a two-minute waltz from Tahrir Square, Cairo itself seems like a dime novel. The Semiramis itself has been ransacked by toughs several times since the revolution, and last year, the <a href=\"http:\/\/egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com\/2013\/03\/the-crazy-video-of-day-semiramis-top.html\" target=\"_blank\">hotel chefs<\/a> brandished kitchen knifes to scare off troublemakers. Simply reading the newspaper stirs up familiar noir themes. Headlines provide grist for whole novels: \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/english.ahram.org.eg\/NewsContent\/1\/64\/102781\/Egypt\/Politics-\/Egyptian-police-captain-sentenced-to-death-for-mur.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Egyptian police captain sentenced to death for murder-robbery<\/a>.\u201d Or \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenews.com.pk\/article-152367-Twin-bombings-near-Egypt-president-palace-kill-police-officer\" target=\"_blank\">Egypt policeman killed defusing bomb near president palace<\/a>.\u201d And \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.egyptindependent.com\/\/news\/policeman-shot-dead-while-rescuing-girl-kidnappers\" target=\"_blank\">Policeman shot dead while rescuing girl from kidnappers<\/a>.\u201d And last month, a new soap opera on police corruption was <a href=\"http:\/\/oumcartoon.tumblr.com\/post\/89850989486\/belal-fadl-ramadan-soap-opera-censored-makhlouf-cartoon\" target=\"_blank\">banned<\/a>. In Cairo, it seems, life imitates pulp<strong>.<\/strong> Time to rent a room at the Windsor and start typing.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jonathan Guyer is\u00a0senior editor of the\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/thecairoreview.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cairo Review of Global Affairs<\/a><em>. He blogs at\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/oumcartoon.tumblr.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Oum Cartoon<\/a><em> and tweets <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/mideastXmidwest\" target=\"_blank\">@mideastXmidwest<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cairo: the metal detector beeps. The security man wears a crisp white uniform. He nods and leans back in his chair. The lobby\u2019s red oriental carpet, so worn it\u2019s barely red, leads upstairs to the hotel tavern. Enter the glass doors, where a cat in a smart bow tie and vest reaches for a lonely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":739,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[15040,1812,9899,15039,1773,4150,15035,15036,1828,15034,15037,15038],"class_list":["post-75656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-book-markets","tag-cairo","tag-covers","tag-diary-of-a-country-prosecutor","tag-egypt","tag-elliott-colla","tag-hosni-mubarak","tag-mohammed-morsi","tag-noir","tag-pulp-novels","tag-the-windsor-hotel","tag-translations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Case of the Arabic Noirs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jonathan Guyer on the resurgence of crime novels in contemporary Egypt.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs by Jonathan Guyer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 20, 2014 \u2013 Cairo: the metal detector beeps. 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The lobby\u2019s red oriental carpet, so\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-20T15:49:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-20T21:55:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan Guyer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan Guyer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathan Guyer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f005e48232f090e50b9723edaf94b502\"},\"headline\":\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-20T15:49:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-20T21:55:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\"},\"wordCount\":1729,\"commentCount\":13,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"book markets\",\"Cairo\",\"covers\",\"Diary of a Country Prosecutor\",\"Egypt\",\"Elliott Colla\",\"Hosni Mubarak\",\"Mohammed Morsi\",\"noir\",\"pulp novels\",\"the Windsor Hotel\",\"translations\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts &amp; Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\",\"name\":\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-20T15:49:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-20T21:55:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Jonathan Guyer on the resurgence of crime novels in contemporary Egypt.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/17.metro_.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/20\/the-case-of-the-arabic-noirs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Case of the Arabic Noirs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. 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