http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1248467...

A rather tough read about the arrival of the American oil companies in an unnamed Arab statelet, and the social disruption that this inflicts on the population.

I like the way in which the "Americans" are shown as alien beings, as the Other in a hitherto stable and settled society; I think that being shown oneself (and for these purposes I am certainly an "American") as others see one is always a good thing, and Munif does this blisteringly well.

I think he is not as good as Chinua Achebe at demonstrating the disruptive impact of western colonialism on the local society. Perhaps (though I would be dubious about making this comparison) that impact was less in the Gulf States than in Nigeria. Munif has existing power structures (the emir) being reinforced and distorted in their authority by the arrival of the outsiders. Achebe has the local power structures devastated beyond repair.

Both Munif and Achebe present a somewhat pre-lapsarian view of the original societies. Achebe is worse in this respect, but it is still notable that Munif's story is told almost entirely - apart from two or three chapters out of 77 - from the point of view of the male characters; I don't think there are more than half a dozen women named in the book.

Anyway, an educational read, but I would have liked a bit more nuance in the narrative. ( )

Cities of Salt begins in 1930s in the Wadi Al-Uyoun, where life hasn’t changed much in the last thousand years. Then the Americans arrive. Soon the inhabitants are all told they must leave and village is bulldozed to accommodate the exploration for oil. The narrative soon focuses on Harran, a seaside village where the Americans decide to build a port and terminus for a pipeline. Cities of Salt is not a polemic, Arabs good, Americans bad, although one Arab does complain that the Americans "smell could kill birds!" The Americans are seen only at a distance, generally across the barbed wire that separates the American compound from Arab Harran. Banned in Saudi Arabia (Isn’t everything?), Cities of Salt tells of the lives of many ordinary, and not so ordinarily, people disrupted by change they cannot control and cultural conflict they cannot understand. ( )