Join our Mailing List

Arabic Literature

English edition
Mar 2009
344 pp.
Hardbound
15X23 cm
$24.95
LE100
ISBN 978 977 416 190 2
For sale worldwide

The Zafarani Files

Gamal al-Ghitani
Translated by Farouk Abdel Wahab

The intrigues of an old Cairo quarter: gossip, spells, betrayals, and busybodies in a parable about political and personal freedoms

An unknown observer is watching the residents of a small, closely-knit neighborhood in Cairo’s old city, making notes. The college graduate, the street vendors, the political prisoner, the café owner, the taxi driver, the beautiful green-eyed young wife with the troll of a husband—all are subjects of surveillance. The watcher’s reports flow seamlessly into a narrative about Zafarani Alley, a village tucked into a corner of the city, where intrigue is the main entertainment, and everyone has a secret. Suspicion, superstition, and a wicked humor prevail in this darkly comedic novel. Drawing upon the experience of his own childhood growing up in al-Hussein, where the fictional Zafarani Alley is located, Gamal al-Ghitani has created a world richly populated with characters and situations that possess authenticity behind their veils of satire.

E-mail to a friend

Gamal al-Ghitani, born in 1945, is the author of Zayni Barakat (AUC Press, 2004), The Mahfouz Dialogs (AUC Press, 2007), and Pyramid Texts (AUC Press, 2007). He is editor-in-chief of the literary review Akhbar al-adab. Farouk Abdel Wahab is Ibn Rushd Professorial Lecturer in Arabic at the University of Chicago. His most recent translation is Alaa Al Aswany’s Chicago (AUC Press, 2007).

Customer Reviews

No available reviews

Write your own review ›

Reviews

"an incredibly funny, inventive novel" and "What most intrigues me about this novel is the knitting together of the various characters and stories. Gamal al-Ghitani creates a wonderful, lively world that is more ironic, funny, and verbally dazzling than any other contemporary Arabic book that I’ve read in recent years.”—Chad Post, Three Percent Praise for Zayni Barakat:

“. . . A gripping, unforgettable work of prose fiction. It displays its author’s originality of conception and execution at every step.”—Edward Said, in his Foreword to the book

“Whether read as a colorful evocation of past times or as a bleak political parable, Zayni Barakat succeeds brilliantly.”—Robert Irwin, Times Literary Supplement Praise for Pyramids Texts:

“The experience of reading al-Ghitani’s Pyramid Texts leaves you feeling spellbound.”—Al-Ahram Hebdo

“A beautiful and tantalizing work.”—Juan Goytisolo, author of State of Siege

Customer Reviews

Also available by this author

Pyramid Texts ISBN 978 977 416 051 6
Hardbound

The Book of Epiphanies ISBN 978 977 416 546 7
Paperback

The Mahfouz Dialogs ISBN 978 977 416 127 8
Hardbound

Zayni Barakat ISBN 978 977 424 872 6
Paperback