P Djèlí Clark is Dexter Gabriel (born 1971), known by his pen name Phenderson Djèlí Clark, is an American speculative fiction writer and historian, an assistant professor in the department of history at the University of Connecticut. He uses a pen name to differentiate his literary work from his academic work. This pen name, "Djèlí", makes reference to the griots – traditional Western African storytellers, historians and poets.
In 2022, his fantasy novel A Master of Djinn won the Nebula in 2022 and Locus Awards for first novel. (Wikipedia)
Vocabulary (A Master of Djinn): Mamluk, Jellabiya (Which he spells "gallabiyah") and Bawab, Fatimids, Ottomans, ulama, Al-Jahiz, Ifrit, Qareen.
Kabed is a kind of bread.
Mish is traditional fermented cheese from Egypt and Sudan.
Souk is an open air market.
In ancient Egyptian religion, Hathor was a powerful and popular goddess associated with love, beauty, music, fertility, and joy. She was also a protector of women and played a significant role in childbirth and the afterlife. Her name literally means "House of Horus," referring to her role as either Horus's mother or wife.
Orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system, or of just the sun, earth, and moon, used to represent their relative positions and motions.
Reader response (Thoughts arising from the first 100 pages): There's a magic vibe that reminds me of Harry Potter. I'm not sure what I think about magic books, I mean it's mostly not writing about it, with some poof little bits. I don't mind One Hundred Years Of Solitude, or House of Spirits, but I do have some subtle resistances to it.
I'm not sure what the steampunk adds to the novel, I'm not against it, but I was getting into the dead gods of Egypt and their mythology and then it's steampunk time.
I was looking at the cover and just wondering what does that add to the narrative, the gears. I looked up to see how much an orrery would cost, I was pricing orrery, but I'm not sure where I would put it and whether it's really something I need.
I think about the scenes in Futurama and Disenchanted of steampunk. They're visually cool, but as described in text, I just refer to these TV shows.
Women got the right to vote in Egypt in 1956. Rawya Ateya was the first woman elected to parliament in the Arab world in 1957. In contrast Jeannette Rankin was elected to the US Congress in 1916.
Then she's in a jazz club and they name Buddy Bolden (1877-1931). He doesn't have any recordings, there are just tributes to him. He had a schizophrenic break in 1907, or maybe just vitamin deficiency, so this lover of Bolden is from around 50 years ago from when he played. Timeline looks a bit suspect. I find it interesting you can listen to Bolden tribute band and various artists have Bolden songs and tributes. There's a movie about him, that is fiction. He was the top from 1900 to 1907, and perhaps mastered the music that would lead to jazz.
Ah, but the back of the book says it's 1912 in Cairo! Not 1956. So speculative fiction means rearranging some timelines. That must be really fun for a professional historian.
I get obsessed with reacting and limiting it to 100 pages helps me enjoy the book. I'm looking at pictures of Ancient Egypt and enjoying the setting and learning reading this book. I'm not really a mystery person, and I feel like I'm needing to take on quite a lot to buy into this quite speculative book, but I'm enjoying the ride.
P. 146: Stanch or staunch? As in stopping bleeding. Nope, it's correct, but there's an error later for sure, "she hadn't bought her gun" should be, "she hadn't brought her gun."
In Arabic, "eib" (عيب) typically translates to "flaw," "fault," or "defect." It can also imply "shame," "disgrace," or something that breaks societal norms. The plural of "eib," عيوب (uyūb), means "flaws” Contrasted with haram, which is against Islamic law.
P. 224, The novel reference the Ottomans genocide in Armenia 1915–1917. In this speculative novel set in 1912, where the Egyptian suffrages is moved back from 1956, it's confusing about what has changed, and what has stayed the same.
Rusalki is a variant usually spelled rusalka. They're nyads, mermaids. There's an opera with them called that.
Bagiennik are Polish mythical creatures.
This book is an invitation to research fae, mythical creatures.
I'm listening to a playlist on spotify of top Egyptian hits that's updated daily. Switch to a 2006 Egyptian jazz album (spotify). Salah Ragab is the drummer. Who died in 2008.
What I like about this book:
It wasn't a bad plot, it wasn't poorly told, it wasn't uninteresting. Double negatives because while I enjoyed the book, it's been the least exciting and enjoyable book that I've finished in a long time. That it was not disagreeable was good.
I like learning about Egypt, like learning English vocabulary the region. I like thinking about fae, and mythology. I like looking up Egyptian jazz musicians and listening to them.
We read this because of pride month, and I'm supportive, love humans no matter how they express or don't express their sexualty. Didn't really get much a feel of homosexuality in Egypt in speculative 1912, or between humans and djinn. Wouldn't say the pride element of the book really represented pride, but I bet it's pretty hard to come up with 3-4 book picks per month, for the club to vote. It's actually quite nice to pick so many so we can vote on them. Just so we're clear, I did not find the lesbian relationship something upsetting to me, seemed just a normal slice of life to me.
Questions for the book club (with my answers):
1. The back of the book says that it's Egypt and middle east without colonialism. How does that play out in the novel?
I guess suffrage moving up 45 years would perhaps influence that.
2. What feelings were skillfully evoked by this novel?
I liked the idea of magic spells making you forget things is interesting, I think rhetoric casts spells on America that stupefied it into voting for the current regime.
3. Do you have a favorite word or concept you looked up reading this book?
More than the links above? I just liked the setting in the middle east. I have been studying Iran recently, and so I appreciate that. I have an Egyptian friend and I wouldn't say I learned a lot about Egypt, but I appreciated an African setting. It did get me thinking about how everywhere has mythical creatures.
4. Feelings about portrayal of strong women?
Great.
Book Club Meeting:
Reading order suggested by a reader:
The Djinn of Cairo
The Haunting of Tram Car 015
A Master of Djinn
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