Dé/Reconstruction de figures historiques dans un contexte d’émergence : nationalisme égyptien

Resumo

In ‘Aṣā l-Ḥakīm, Tawfīq al-Ḥakim (1898–1983) rewrote the myths as well as the personal and public stories of famous male and female politicians from ancient times to the twentieth century. They all have in common the major role they played in the history of the nationalist struggle for political emancipation from Egypt and for the construction of a national identity. While some embody Egyptian nationalism (Cleopatra, Isis, Hatchepsout, and Nefertiti, for example), others symbolize the hold of the West (Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar) and more specifically British domination (King Edward VIII), and others still represent nations allied to Egypt by their political or economic interests, like Hitler and Mussolini or even Napoleon Bonaparte, who, as the 'discoverer' of Egypt, is considered, due to his expedition, to have awakened consciences and allowed the cultural Nahḍa. Tawfīq al-Ḥakim reinterprets their actions according to Egypt's international position and more specifically to its attitude during the Second World War and the crises of the 1950s in the Near East.