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English edition
Mar
2009
344 pp.
Hardbound
15X23 cm
$24.95
LE 100.00
ISBN
978 977 416 190 2
For sale worldwide
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The Zafarani Files
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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.
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).
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Reviews
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"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
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