The Dreams of Fisherman Uncle Ahmad

In the preface to this novel, Khairi Shalabi expresses his literary philosophy, stressing that everything he writes stems from authentic life experiences, and perhaps this philosophy is reflected in the background of this novel which was inspired by a mundane incident. Shalabi's car broke down near the tombs of Mashiyat Nasser. While he was waiting for his car to be repaired, he sat in a nearby cafe and started writing. The surrounding atmosphere of the place charmed him. Later, the local people invited him to visit again, and when he did, he learned a lot more about their world and stories which inspired him to mold the character of ‘Uncle Ahmad’. This unexpected experience was the nucleus of this purely Egyptian novel, where Shalabi blended the colloquial with the classic in a smooth manner. In this regard, the writer Alaa Abdel Moneim Ibrahim points out: “Khairi Shalabi is a writer haunted by the popular spirit of the Egyptian character. This spirit rests on a rich legacy of oral and written narratives that succeed in combining the imaginary with the realm narrowing down the distance between the mythical and the living to achieve the amazing fusion between laughing and sobbing. Thus, it brilliantly combines the dimensions of the impossible and the possible”.

The novel consists of a series of dreams. Uncle Ahmad is a fisherman living in Cairo with his extended family. Each chapter begins with a description of a dream, then the feeling of Uncle Ahmad towards it, and the interpretation of it in the context of real life. The number of dreams is twenty-four and they are all strange and disturbing.

Each dream symbolizes something in life or some social or political issue. What distinguishes these dreams is that they are realized directly or symbolically, which lends an element of excitement and suspense to the narrative. These dreams are not just strange events, but rather internal feelings and hidden conflicts, often the novel interprets them in a way that blends realism and abstraction. What distinguishes this novel is its unique style that belongs to abstract realism, Shalabi succeeds in portraying a whole life through a set of unrelated dreams. He was able to accurately draw the world of Uncle Ahmad, using simple and clear language that fits into the characters' world and approaches critical cultural and political issues such as the spread of favoritism and bribes, and the barbarity of the new world order. The novel is not just an account of ordinary dreams, but a reflection of Egyptian reality through its characters and challenges. Through Uncle Ahmad's character, Shalabi mirrors the true spirit of the Egyptians, with all their contradictions, tragedies, and aspirations, making it a unique literary work that brilliantly combines simplicity and depth.