Synopses & Reviews
In his final years, Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz distilled his storyteller's art to its most essential level. Written with the compression and power of dreams, these poetic vignettes, originally collected in two books,
The Dreams and
Dreams of Departure, here combined in one volume for the first time.
These stories telescope epic tales into tersely haunting miniatures. A man finds his neighborhood has turned into a circus, but his joy turns to anger when he cannot escape it. An obscure writer finally achieves fame-through the epitaph on his grave. A group of friends telling jokes in an alley face the murderous revenge of an ancient Egyptian queen. Figures from Mahfouz's past-women he loved, men who inspired him, even fictional characters from his own novels-float through tales dreamed by a mind too fertile ever to rest, even in sleep.
Translated by Raymond Stock
Synopsis
Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz distilled his powerful storyteller's art to its most essential level in these poetic vignettes, originally collected in two books, The Dreams and Dreams of Departure, and here combined in one volume for the first time.
These one-and two-page pieces telescope epic tales into tersely haunting miniatures. A man finds his neighborhood turned into a circus, but his joy turns to anger when he cannot escape it. A group of joke-telling friends provoke the murderous revenge of an ancient Egyptian queen. Figures from Mahfouz's past--women he loved, men who inspired him, and even characters from his novels--float through these tales dreamed by a mind too fertile ever to rest, even in sleep.
Translated from the Arabic by Raymond Stock.
About the Author
Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1989. He died in Cairo in 2006.