| The Zafarani Files: An Egyptian Novel Contributor(s): Al-Ghitani, Gamal (Author), Wahab, Farouk Abdel (Translator) |
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ISBN: 9774161904 ISBN-13: 9789774161902 Publisher: American University in Cairo Press OUR PRICE: $22.46 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2009 Annotation: The intrigues of an old Cairo quarter: gossip, spells, betrayals, and busybodies in a parable about political and personal freedoms |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Political |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Series: Modern Arabic Literature (Hardcover) |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6.2" W x 9.3" (1.65 lbs) 344 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Abdel Wahab, Farouk: - Farouk Abdel Wahab was Ibn Rushd Professorial Lecturer in Arabic at the University of Chicago. He was the translator of many works of Arabic fiction, including Gamal al-Ghitani's The Book of Epiphanies (AUC Press, 2012). He won the 2007 Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for his translation of The Lodging House, by Khairy Shalaby (AUC Press pbk, 2008). He died in 2013.Al-Ghitani, Gamal: - Gamal al-Ghitani, born in 1945, is the author of Zayni Barakat (AUC Press, 2004), The Mahfouz Dialogs (AUC Press, 2007), Pyramid Texts (AUC Press, 2007), and The Book of Epiphanies (AUC Press, 2012). He was editor-in-chief of the literary review Akhbar al-adab. |