ABSTRACT
The influence of money on people's lives went even further and is seen to determine love relationships and friendships. Andre Raymond's pioneering work on artisans and merchants of the eighteenth century explored the main patterns of trade and production but also brought to light new sources to be used as raw material such as court records. The literary production of the eighteenth century can be rethought if contextualised within local and world-historical conditions. In spite of the political power and financial control that they obtained over Egypt's resources in the eighteenth century, Mamluk households were aware of the fragile nature of their positions. Literature expresses an individual reaction to some of the transformations of the period, transformations which were felt not just in Egypt but across a broad geographic region north and south of the Mediterranean.
