Narrating the revolution: Towards slow memory in Egyptian fiction

The narrative of the 2011 Egyptian revolution has been construed as event-oriented and has often emphasised the participation of certain segments of society, while overlooking the diversity of individual experiences and glossing over violence and other uncomfortable realities that had a crucial impact on how the period is remembered. This article explores literature as a vehicle for fostering slow memory, encouraging slow remembrance through its resistance to (fast) interpretation. The article argues that Egyptian fiction serves as the opposite to oversimplifying portrayals of the events which shape collective memory, using various narrative techniques and approaches to go beyond the event and to subvert the dominant narrative. The article will analyse three contemporary Egyptian novels and show how the use of polyphonic voices, silence and the focus on the everyday aspects of people’s lives may contribute to understanding the recently conceptualised notion of slow memory in literary studies.