Q How do Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt and The Yacoubian Building address the issue of contemporary Egyptian identity (an identity that is not simply a consequence of tradition but is also a result of cultural/temporal intersections)? Characterization -- the choice of characters to focus on as well as their distinctive attributes -- is definitely one of the strengths of Aswany's portrait of Egypt, depending on our point of view. Characterization helps him to examine various aspects of Egyptian society, such as corruption, fundamentalism, sexual repression, et cetera. Because the structure of the novel is correspondingly episodic, the progression and interaction of diverse characters and incidents highlight the fact that Aswany is not just telling a single story but consciously painting (on a broad canvas) a revealing picture of a composite or collective Egyptian identity. The subject (Egyptian identity) is not unusual. In his own commentary on the subject, Naguib Mahfouz writes (in Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber): "There has been much discussion concerning our identity. It is said that we are of pharaonic, not Arab, descent, that we are northerners and not Africans, or that we are Mediterranean peoples who have no roots in Asia. In my opinion, our homeland is the source of our identity, something that has nothing to do with race. Egyptians represent an integral culture, formed by races of different civilizations - Arabs, Sudanese, Turks, and Moors, as well as ancient Egyptians. The common denominator has been our homeland, which has made one people of migrants of many races and civilizations, fusing their traits to form our national and cultural identity." Aswany's focus in The Yacoubian Building is rather different in that he is not mainly concerned with origins. Nevertheless, his concern is also what it means to be Egyptian in a particular era and how a common reality or denominator, Egypt, serves to unify a somewhat divergent plot charted or constituted by many tense personal histories.