By Tawfiq al-Hakim
The significance of Tawfiq al-Hakim (1898 to 1989) to the emergence of a contemporary Arabic literature is moment in basic terms to that of Naguib Mahfouz. If the latter placed the unconventional one of the genres of writing which are now an authorized a part of literary construction within the Arab global this present day, Tawfiq al-Hakim is well-known because the undisputed author of a literature of the theater.
In this quantity, Tawfiq al-Hakim's repute as a playwright is given prominence.
Of the greater than seventy performs he wrote, The Sultan's Dilemma, facing a old topic in an appealingly light-hearted demeanour, may be the simplest identified; apparently within the prolonged variation of Norton's international Masterpieces and used to be broadcast at the previous domestic carrier of the BBC.
The different full-length play incorporated right here, The Tree Climber, is person who unearths al-Hakim's openness to outdoors impacts for that reason, the absurdist mode of writing. Of the 2 one-act performs during this assortment, The Donkey Market indicates his deftness at turning a conventional folks story right into a hilarious level comedy. Tawfiq al-Hakim produced numerous of the earliest examples of the radical in Arabic; incorporated during this quantity is an extract from his most sensible identified paintings in that style, the pleasant Diary of a rustic Prosecutor, during which he attracts on his personal adventure as a public prosecutor within the Egyptian nation-state. 3 of the various brief tales he released also are integrated, in addition to an extract from The felony of Life, an autobiography within which Tawfiq al-Hakim writes with commendable frankness approximately himself.
Contents:
Introduction through Denys Johnson-Davies,
The Sultan's trouble (full-length play),
The Tree Climber (full-length play),
The Donkey industry (one-act play),
The music of loss of life (one-act play),
Diary of a rustic Prosecutor (extract from the novel),
Miracles on the market (short story),
The felony of existence (extract from the autobiography),
Azrael the Barber (short story),
Satan Triumphs (short story).
Read or Download The Essential Tawfiq al-Hakim: Plays, Fiction, Autobiography PDF
Best autobiography books
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story
As America's Mercury Seven astronauts have been introduced on death-defying missions, tv cameras involved in the courageous smiles in their younger other halves. in a single day, those girls have been reworked from army spouses into American royalty. that they had tea with Jackie Kennedy, seemed at the conceal of existence journal, and quick grew into model icons.
I Am the Secret Footballer: Lifting the Lid on the Beautiful Game
It is usually stated that ninety five% of what occurs in soccer happens at the back of closed doors.
Many of those tales I shouldn't be telling you.
But I will.
Who is the key Footballer? just a couple of humans understand the genuine identification of the fellow contained in the online game. yet whoever he's - and whoever he performs for - he's consistently sincere, fearless and opinionated. the following he finds every thing you want to learn about the hidden international soccer, and what it's fairly love to do the activity that the majority folks can basically dream of.
Che's diary of the fateful Bolivia challenge. Now revised by means of Che's widow and with a preface via his son Camilo, this can be the definitive account of the try to spark a continent-wide revolution in Latin America—the foundation of Steven Soderbergh biopic on Che Guevara starring Benicio Del Toro.
Praeterita (Oxford World's Classics)
For as i glance deeper into the replicate, i locate myself a extra curious individual than I had inspiration. '
John Ruskin (1819-1900) was once a towering determine of the 19th century: an paintings critic who spoke up for J. M. W. Turner and for the artwork of the Italian center a while; a social critic whose aspiration for, and unhappiness in, the way forward for nice Britain used to be expressed in essentially the most brilliant prose within the language. Ruskin's incomplete autobiography used to be written among sessions of significant psychological ailment on the finish of his profession, and is an eloquent research of the guiding powers of his life,
both private and non-private. An elegy for misplaced locations and other people, Praeterita recounts Ruskin's excessive formative years, his time as an undergraduate at Oxford, and, so much of all, his trips throughout France, the Alps, and northerly Italy. aware of the human or divine that means of every thing round him,
Praeterita is an unbelievable account of revelation.
- Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
- American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot
- Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me
- The Dream: A Memoir
Extra info for The Essential Tawfiq al-Hakim: Plays, Fiction, Autobiography
Example text
Is he one of the notables? UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: No. you’re in charge of directing his affairs? UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: That’s so. Then he’s an employee. UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: They claim he has. They claim he has a trade but he does not make anything. UNKNOWN MAN: CADI: He makes nothing. No. Has he influence? qxd:Tawfiq_Hakim 52 4/13/08 4:12 PM Page 52 The Sultan’s Dilemma UNKNOWN MAN: Yes, CADI: on his acquaintances. Has he many acquaintances? UNKNOWN MAN: Yes—many. CADI [thinking in silence as he passes his fingers through his beard]: Yes.
WINE MERCHANT forward. qxd:Tawfiq_Hakim 4/13/08 4:12 PM Page 45 Act Two SLAVE TRADER: VIZIER: Silence! Silence! Honorable people! You are today present at a great and unique occa- sion, one of the most important in our history: a glorious Sultan asks for his freedom and has recourse to his people instead of to his sword—that sharp and mighty sword by which he was victorious in battles against the Mongols and with which he could also have been victorious in gaining his freedom and liberating himself from slavery.
Thirty! At a sum of thirty! Thirty thousand dinars! [whispering]: Thirty thousand dinars to be thrown into the sea! What a madman! [shouting at the top of his voice]: Thirty thousand dinars! SLAVE TRADER Thirty! Any better bid? No one? No one bids more than thirty thousand dinars? Is this all I’m offered as a price for our great Sultan? SULTAN VIZIER: [to the VIZIER]: So this is the height of noble, patriotic, appreciation! Your Majesty, those present bidding here are mostly the miserly mer- chants and well-to-do, those whose nature is niggardly, whose one desire is profit, and who begrudge spending money for the sake of a lofty purpose.