The Interplay of Space and Culture

The main objective of this book is to investigate how Yuri M. Lotman’s theory of the “Semiosphere’’ offers a spatial model for the interpretation of the culture on which Naguib Mahfouz’s The Cairo Trilogy is based. Through the application of Lotman’s theory to Egyptian culture this book aims to show how far such a globalized theory applies to a culturally different spatial structure. Furthermore it seeks to reveal whether the spatial structure and bipartition reflect the Trilogy’s main themes of social and political tensions as well as the conflict between the traditional/modern socio-cultural value systems.