When asked who is the most famous actor in the world, how many of you would say, “Jackie Chan”? Or for the question, who was the most important female celebrity of the 20th Century, how many would say, “Oum Kalthoum”? In the West, we often forget that the majority of the world’s population is either immune to Western popular culture, or at least, has its own popular culture that influences a greater number of people than our Madonnas, Michael Jacksons, and Fernando Alonsos do. Just as American culture dominates Western theatres, radio stations, and TV, Egyptian popular culture has imperialized the Arab World. And two of its major figures are Oum Kalthoum (also spelled Umm Kulthum), the Egyptian Diva, and Naguib Mahfouz, the Egypian Nobel Prize winning novelist.
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