Samuel Beshara, Kahled Raouf, Ahmed Abdel Gabbar Revive Egypt in Cavafy’s Poetry

maydaa nadar

By Maydaa Abo El-Nadar

CAIRO, Feb. 6 (SEE) – The Egyptian Greek poet Constantine Peter Cavafy, known as Alexandria’s poet, has been enjoying a special and prestigious status, not only among the Greeks and Egyptian literary circles but also internationally.

Constantine Peter Cavafy

At the 2019 Cairo International Book Fair, a special seminar titled “Egypt in Cavafy’s Poem” was conducted in the presence of the Greek and Cypriot Ambassadors to Egypt Michael-Christos Diamessis and Kharis Moritzis, respectively. The seminar was led by distinguished translators Samuel Beshara and Khaled Raouf, along with poet and writer Ahmed Abdel Gabbar.

The Greek Ambassador to Egypt

Michael-Christos Diamessis

The Cairo Book Fair is celebrating its golden jubilee in the honor of former Minister of Culture Tharwat Okasha and writer Soheir El Kalamawy. Worth noting is that Okasha presided over the first committee, founded in 1971, to collect Cavafy’s heritage.

Former Minister of Culture Tharwat Okasha

Cavafy was born on 17 April 1863, on the south-eastern fringe of Europe, on the coast of Egypt and Africa, in Alexandria that he considered his homeland. He started writing poems when he was 19. However, his first printed poetic collection was published when he was 41. In 1923 he suffered throat cancer and from aphasia, so he spent his last days at Alexandria’s Greek hospital.

Cook's Company Office Building in 1898, Alexandria, of Which Cavafy Worked as a Director (Naeem Attia)

On 29 April 1933, he passed away. Near the Alexandrian neighborhood of Koum El Dikka, there is an old house with a marble plate, on which this phrase is written: “In this house, the Alexandrian poet K. P. Cavafy spent his life last twenty-five years.” His house is now a museum whose ticket costs around five EGP.

Ramleh Casino in Alexandria. Cavafy Joined its Membership in 1897 (Naeem Attia)

The poet witnessed the English invasion of his beloved city and bombing it in 1882. He was impacted by what Alexandria endured, till the point that he depicted the English usurpation as the Roman one. Due to these unbearable circumstances, along with his family, he left for Asetana. Soon he returned to his beloved city in 1885.

Alexandria's Ramleh Street Where Cavafy's Family Lived from 1887 to 1899 (Naeem Attia)

Although he was offered several opportunities from literary circles, especially from poets Anglo Sikilianos and Lambros Borviras, to stay in the Greek capital of Athens, he did not dare to leave his dearest city.

Athens 2016

In many of his texts, Cavafy supported the marginalized characters considered as the main component of the Egyptian society. On the other side, the poet merged his past as a Greek Alexandrian with the present, creating from his mundane daily life along with his mythical historic view of it a poetic movement called Cubism that began publically in 1907 and ended with the first World War in 1914.

In this regard Irish poet, translator, and writer Desmond O’Grady says, “I am not saying that Cavafy deliberately chose a cubist perspective, any more than Cezanne, Picasso or Braque did. I am only suggesting that at an early age Cavafy’s way of seeing, his perception of his world was not dissimilar to that of mature Cezanne and of Picasso and Brauqe and that they all made their inpidual art accordingly.”

Desmond O’Grady (Limerick Post)

Speaking about Alexandria’s presence in Cavafy’s poetry, O’Grady expresses, “Cavafy’s epiphany had been to see that the squalid, bypassed, declining, historic Alexandria of his day was the stage on which to present his perception of Alexandria during the last three centuries B.C. and the first four centuries A.D.,” adding that “He saw how to record in poems his personal (actual and imagined) life in historic Alexandria outside his window for like-minded, elitist other persons including his own other person.”

Egypt and Greece share strong ties since ancient history, a fact that is apparently touched in Greek Literature. A vivid example is the Greek epic masterpiece the Odyssey (attributed to Homer) where Egypt was the host of several scenes. On the other hand, Greek literature, including the Odyssey, comprised other Arab countries such as Libya and Syria. No wonder that both countries inspired Cavafy.

Amongst Cavafy’s writings were: The Syrian King’s Resentments, To Syria’s King, Words on Syrian King Antiochus’ Mausoleum, The Wise Man Who Left Syria, A Prince from Western Libya, and A Prescription by Ancient Greek Magicians from Syria.

C. P. Cavafy (From Cavafy's Archive)

Numerous remarkable figures wrote about Cavafy, including the giant of modern Greek literature Nikos Kazantzakis and several British historians. Kazantzakis expressed that Cavafy was unquestionably the most important intellectual figure he had ever known in Egypt.” Some of the British historians’ writings about the legendary poet are preserved at the American University in Cairo.

Nikos Kazantzakis Interpreted by Odysseas Papaspiliopoulos

During the seminar, Beshara started his speech by mentioning Cavafy’s work titled “Returning from Greece” where the poet said, “At least we have to sail in our sea, in Cyprus’, Egypt’s, and Syria’s water cherished to our nations.”

The Seminar Reviving Cavafy's Treasure

On his side, Abdel Gabbar explained that Cavafy wrote about Alexandria in three stages; the first depicted Alexandria from 1863 to 1933, the second described the Ptolemaic and the Byzantine Alexandria, and the third was the symbolic Alexandria.

The first phase showed the real Alexandria where Cavafy lived, the city that was bombed by the British invasion, and the place that the poet left and then returned to. Regarding the third stage, Alexandria appeared among Cavafy’s several poems as a symbol, a fact that shows Alexandria’s cosmopolitan and multicultural nature, bearing in mind that the coastal city enjoyed this status from 400 B.C. till 400 B.C.

Worth noting is that this is the first time for Cyprus to participate in the Cairo Book Fair. In this regard, the Cypriot Ambassador alluded that Cavafy is the reason behind his presence. The Greek Ambassador added that Cavafy represents an original and strong link between Egypt and Greece.