Cities of Salt

Cities of Salt is a novel by Abdul Rahman Munif. It was first published in Beirut in 1984 and was immediately recognized as a major work of Arab literature. It was translated into English by Peter Theroux. The novel, and the quintet of which it is the first volume, describes the far-reaching effects of the discovery of huge reserves of oil under a once-idyllic oasis somewhere on the Arabian peninsula.

“Oil is our one and only chance to build a future," Munif once told Theroux, "and the regimes are ruining it.” In the novel and its sequels, great oil-rich cities are soon built, described as cities of salt. "Cities of salt," said Munif when asked by Tariq Ali to explain the book's title, "means cities that offer no sustainable existence. When the waters come in, the first waves will dissolve the salt and reduce these great glass cities to dust. In antiquity, as you know, many cities simply disappeared. It is possible to foresee the downfall of cities that are inhuman. With no means of livelihood they won't survive."