Abstract
"Trail of a Syllable. The Advance of Politics through
Literary Expressions: Revolutions and the Word
This research is centred on the recent Egyptian January 25th Revolution and the literature,
films, and music industry that has risen in the past 9 years since. The topic deals with three
main topics: (1) the identity of Egyptian writers; (2) the spaces available for writers to
express themselves freely in; and (3) changes in traditional Egyptian literary forms, most
notably the parable. This study analyses the use of spaces in Egypt as artistic forums. This is
divided into informal spaces: coffeehouses, social media, and the streets, while formal spaces
look into the purposes of publishing houses. It also investigates the prevalence of using
informal spaces and their crucial role in the dissemination of information that has led to the
renowned uprising, 25th January 2011 revolution. Along with this critical piece, I have
written a creative piece titled Trail of a Syllable. The story revolves around four protagonists,
each with an artistic form intrinsic to their characters: an artist, a filmmaker/journalist, and
the main protagonist if you’ll pardon the bias, a writer. The connection between these
characters is a text sent from a random Syrian with no name. The text asks for help in starting
a revolution on the island the refugees have been illegally smuggled to and cut off from the
rest of the world. The creative piece plays with the grammatical structure of two cultures,
English language, and Egyptian/Arabic written formats. This includes literary devices like an
overabundance of metaphors, an unreliable narrator, ballad-like poetry, and finally active
readership choice. The reader gets to choose either of two paths to follow in the chapters they
elect to read."