Description
This wry take on Kafka's novel The Trial revolves around its narrator's attempts to petition successfully the elusive ruling body of his country, known simply as the Committee. Consequences for his actions range from the absurd to the hideous.
Ibrahim offers an unbroken first-person narrative rendered in brief, crisp prose framed by a conspicuous absence of vivid imagery. Furthermore, the petitioner is a man without identity. The ideal antihero, he remains, as does his country, unnamed throughout the intricate plot with a locale suggestive of 1970s Cairo. The Committee pierces the inflammatory terrain between ordinary men, unbridled displays of power, and other broader concerns of the author's native Egypt. The novel's corrosive, shocking conclusion catapults satiric surrealism into a new realm.Author: Sonallah Ibrahim
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 11/01/2001
Pages: 166
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.61lbs
Size: 7.38h x 5.50w x 0.73d
ISBN13: 9780815607267
ISBN10: 0815607261
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Literary
- Literary Criticism | African
About the Author
Sonallah Ibrahim is an Egyptian novelist and a major literary figure in the Arab world. He has published short stories, historical and scientific children's books, translations of American and German fiction, and seven novels, including Tilka al-ra' iha (The Smell of It), Beirut-Beirut, and Warda.
Mary St. Germain is head of the Near East section at the University of Washington Libraries. Charlene Constable studied Arabic at the University of Washington and has traveled in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.She has a long-standing interest in translation.