Ricerc@Sapienza

The present work aims to analyze the symbolic image of queues, contextualized within the same geographic area (Egypt) but represented in two different historical moments: 1952 and 2012. The historical frame is provided here by two narrative works, a short story and a novel, both entitled al-Ṭābūr (The Queue) by two Egyptian writers, respectively Yūsuf Idrīs (1927-1991) and Basma ‘Abd al-‘Azīz (1976). The paper will try to provide preliminary but meaningful insight into the political (if it is so) and figurative meaning of queuing as portrayed by the two authors.

Born in the desert and soon became an inexhaustible crossroads of the global grand tour, Dubai has evoked in more than one commentator the image of a new Babylon, referring generally to the multiplicity of nationalities that populate it and to the increasingly surprising performances of its urban image and its lifestyles.