Historical novels spread the colonial decline narrative to mass Egyptian readership

Evidence

Schooling among the poor was still insufficient, and if anyone should learn to read, the books available to them contained more illustrations than text, full of unwholesome stories such as ‘The Fellah and the Three Women’. One such book had recently gone through six reprints in less than a month. Family life was neglected. Men had taken to spending their days or their entire evenings in the more disreputable cafés, where women entertained and men told the stories of Don Juan. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 377 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Arabic literary study was reorganized around European-origin decline narratives; The meditation on fallen empires moves readers across cultures. — , A Year of World Stories, 2175; Colonial capitalism and print made Islamic elites adopt European decline narratives (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Egyptian critics blamed mass-market illustrated books and cafés for family decline #complicates (0.72) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 377