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Loading... Napoleon in Egypt: Al-Jabarti's Chronicle of the French Occupation, 1798by ʻAbd al-Raḥmān Jabartī
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This book is an Arab view of a turning point in modern history. Napoleon's conquest of Egypt in 1798 was the first contact between a Western power with imperial goals and an ancien regime of an African society. Sheik al-Jabarti's chronicle is a unique combination of historical narration and reflection combined with daily observations about the atmosphere in Cairo and the mood among local people. ?[Al-Jabarti] resents the French invasion, ridicules their claim to be a defender of the faith, rejects their belief in liberty and equality, despises their lack of morality and personal hygiene, but approves their efficiency, common loyalty and cooperation, and wonders at their technical and scholarly abilities. There was much he admired in these uncouth barbarians who even had a translation of the Koran in their luggage. . . . Al-Jabarti's work has been a treasure house . . . Moreh's editing and translating can serve as a model to other scholars.'?Journal of the American Oriental SocietyAbd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (1754?1825) was a renowned Arab historian and writer. Shmuel Moreh, Hebrew University, is one of the world's leading experts on Arab literature. Robert Tignor, Princeton University, places al-Jabarti's account in its historical context in his introduction. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)940.2History and Geography Europe Europe Early Modern 1453-1914LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.5)
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Wikipedia in English (2)
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Napoleon is a _modern_ figure more than anything else, contemporaneous with the early Industrial Revolution, postdating the American Revolution; to see him referred to by an Arabic title, or described through the eyes of an author and a culture that seem like a better fit with the Middle Ages, is an experience so jarring as to verge on the comedic -- and to inspire some deep thoughts about the real nature of 'progress' and the extreme contingency of societies in the process.
No latent belief in social evolution, social progress, as a necessary thing, survives contact with the profoundly unintentional hilarity of this book: human societies, it reminds us, are really rather artificial, things of consensus rather than necessity, and they do not necessarily "develop" or "progress." "Evolution" of a society can be backwards as well as forwards; the mere fact that a century has a larger number does not mean that it's better than the century preceding it; and human societies never _have_ to change. (