The Future of Culture in Egypt - Taha Hussein

When Egypt signed the "Treaty of Honor and Independence" in 1936, Egyptians believed that their country was making steady progress towards building a modern state, and they set about drawing up plans for its advancement. Taha Hussein, from his position as a writer, thinker, and patriot, saw the necessity of contributing to a vision for the future of culture in Egypt, imbuing that vision with a Western touch that denied Egypt's continued connection to its Eastern roots, asserting that it was closer to the countries of the Mediterranean basin than to the countries of the East. Hence, the book provoked a violent wave of criticism no less than that which faced the dean when he published his book "On Pre-Islamic Poetry," and some criticized him for overlooking the relations between Egypt and the East, emphasizing that even if Egyptians were not connected to the countries of the Far East, there was an undeniable cultural convergence between them and the Near East, especially the Arabs.