Abstract

The current study aims to establish Salem's The Phantoms of New Egypt2 as a dystopian drama to expose the collapse of utopia and the rise of dystopia within the national pitfalls of the ruling class in post-independence Egypt. This provides an explanation of the title of the present paper since dystopia has been perceived as an escape to dismal socio-political conditions while utopia has been considered as an escape from a grim historical reality to an ideal hypothetical one. Moreover, the present study examines the close relationship between dystopian drama and dark satire since each of them is a counterpoint to the vision of utopia. Satire foregrounds the huge cleavage between a utopian dream and a dystopian bleak reality to underscore acts of resistance and struggle. Salem's The Phantoms of New Egypt is as a perfect example of the 'totalitarian laughter' which is a prominent feature in Bakhtin's notion of 'grotesque realism'. This highlights post-independence grotesque power which is both incongruous and monstrous. Power abuse is also scrutinized fantastically within Foucault's 'panoptic gaze'3 to create normalized and docile subjects.