Early Egyptian literary nationalism demanded a distinct national literary voice

Evidence

Taymür felt strongly a need for “Egyptianizing” the literature of his country and creating a school of writing that was uniquely Egyptian. In this quest for realism,Taymür developed a dialogue with his readers in which he encouraged them to nod knowingly with him about the social “types” he presented in his stories while, at the same time, he challenged them to see themselves in much of the pettiness and snobbery his narrator recounted. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 942

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to broader postcolonial literature debates over national literature and authenticity, such as Ngũgĩ’s decolonizing-the-mind arguments and the realistic-novel-as-national-project thesis.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how did Taymür’s literary Egyptianizing project connect to Egyptian colonial politics toward the British occupation versus the continuing cultural dominance of France?