A Bedouin in Cairo: Space, Identity, and Humor in al-Fāʿil by Hamdī Abū Julayyil

This contribution examines al-Fāʿil (The Laborer, 2008; A Dog With No Tail) by Hamdī Abū Julayyil (b. 1967) as an example of internal migration in contemporary Egyptian fiction. The protagonist moves between two distant worlds coexisting in the same country: the Bedouin village in Fayyūm and the megalopolis of Cairo. Moving back and forth, he experiences a double alienation, reflected in the literary representation of space. This novel reelaborates some autobiographical elements, since the author also hails from a Bedouin family and moved to Cairo to work in construction, while pursuing his literary aspirations. Our textual analysis focuses on two main narratives, i.e. construction work and Bedouin history. While staging the migrants’ precarious life, construction work activates the protagonist’s self-discovery. Part of this process is re-telling Bedouin history as a family story of displacements. In doing so, the main character gives migration a collective dimension and employs humor as a survival strategy.