First written in 1836, Edward Lane’s Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians is an attempt to survey its eponymous topic in hitherto unparalleled depth. In presenting to the western world a previously unknown portrait of “modern” Egypt, his text today is as outdated as it is classic. Although tainted by a perspective that posits itself in a superior cultural position, it was actually an attempt to be less dismissive of the culture than previous studies, which had treated Egypt as, at best, an unchanging relic of its Pharaonic past or, at worst, a backwards and barbaric civilization that had deteriorated from its glory days, likely due to the influence of Islam. The key word in the book’s title, therefore, is modern, and the author goes to painstaking lengths to outline every aspect of Egyptian life in great detail in order to demonstrate its rich uniqueness and heritage. Although he is prejudiced by a belief in British cultural superiority, he is equally critical of those who refuse to differentiate the Egypt of his day from Ancient Egypt, a widespread notion due to contemporary interest in archaeological relics. Thus while Lane’s depictions and observations can be laughable, and even offensive, at times, one must take the context into account and realize that the book’s revolutionary nature is what led to its being considered a classic in the first place. With that in mind, the work is a thorough depiction of a life rarely committed to text and contains information not replicated elsewhere, meaning it remains useful nearly 200 years later for the discerning scholar who is willing to navigate its biases and exaggerations.
A chapter-by-chapter analysis is unwarranted, as the vast majority of the work is descriptive in nature, and thus there is little “analysis” to summarize and not much to say about each chapter from a general standpoint that would not be obvious from the title. Moreover, while the material can be interesting, and some might even challenge one’s conceptions of Egyptian life at the time, much of it is also exaggerated or crafted to entice, rather than inform a reader, and thus a summary of the “facts” would be likely to repeat many inaccuracies and monolithic generalizations. Nonetheless, some aspects of the book are worth mentioning. For an uncritical reader, it may be easy to miss Lane’s biases in all but the most extreme cases, as he is superficially laudatory about Egypt. He does, after all, have a genuine passion and love for Egypt (in spite of what he sees as its eccentricities) that he is attempting to convey in order to challenge the prevailing negative view of his contemporaries. Thus because he is rarely derogatory directly about the country, one must look deeper in order to understand where and why the text is problematic.
The main consideration is what he chooses to portray (and, arguably more importantly, what he does not portray) about the society and the way in which he does so. In both cases, it becomes clear that what he emphasizes aligns with the way in which Edward Said believed Orientalism to conceptualize the Middle East. The aspects of Egypt that he enjoys are those that make it out to be timeless, mystical, and exotic, while he consistently fails to mention considerations that might make it seem scientific, civilized, or dynamic (even while he argues how it differs from its Pharaonic past). This leads to a focus on Egypt that is selective and exoticizing, which leads to an implicit argument that Egypt is different from its past, but still unique in ways that contrast it sharply against a superior British civilization. Rather than denigrate Egypt for these differences, however, Lane celebrates them, although not as equals, but as a land of entertainment for the adventurous Westerner, as if it were a place where one could go to live out an exotic fantasy life.
Equally telling are the instances where he is critical, as he clearly holds the Egyptians to a different standard than he would his own people. While this perspective often works out “in favour” of Egypt (since the “flaws” in their actions and customs can be attributed patronizingly to the quirks of their culture and their overall “inferior” nature), he does on occasion engage criticisms that could be applied equally to British society and often ignores the flaws of his own homeland and the advantages of the Egyptian lifestyle. Most importantly, however, nearly all of his judgments of Egyptians are monolithic in nature, even though he does acknowledge societal differences such as class, race, and religiosity from time to time. In general, his commentary often boils down to textbook Orientalism, where one or two anecdotes or experiences serve as a proxy for the entire functioning of Egypt and its people. He treats Egypt without the sophisticated distinctions that he would apply to his own society and glazes over nuance and diversity in favor of one overarching depiction of Egypt that is neither wholly Ancient Egyptian or Islamic, but nonetheless primarily homogenous. Overall, Manners and Customs of Modern Egyptians is an essential read for historians of Egypt, even those not interested in the period it covers, because it provides a rich, contextualizing illustration of the country’s position at an important moment in time. One must approach this text with a critical eye, however, as only a careful read will allow a scholar to discern what is valuable from this work and what must be ignored.