From the "genius of the short story," a collection illuminating the lives of the Egyptian lower class by one of the most important and innovative voices of Egyptian literature\nA Penguin Classic\nOne of Egypt's most acclaimed and well-known authors, Yusuf Idris is heralded as a "renovator and genius of the short story" whose signature stylistic device--the combination of literary and colloquial language à la Huckleberry Finn--transformed Arabic literature. The Cheapest Nights is a collection of some of his most important works, the title story of which follows a man who, unable to sleep, angrily meditates on the state of his life and the extreme poverty in which he finds himself. With compassion, astute observational skills, and biting humor, Idris explores the fraught lives of the Egyptian working class, all the while turning a critical eye on the power structures that oppress them. His collection of short stories, with a foreword by author Ezzedine C. Fishere, is a piercing exploration of power and religion, love and death.

The Cheapest Nights

Literature & Fiction

Idrīs, Yūsuf

United States

Penguin Classics

One of Egypt’s foremost writers, the acknowledged genius of the modern Arabic short story. Encompassing works from every stage of his career, this is the first collection of his stories to appear in English.

Cheapest Nights and Other Stories

Short Stories & Anthologies

Peter Owen Publishers

In the Eye of the Beholder: Tales of Egyptian Life from the Writings of Yusuf Idris (Studies in the Middle Eastern Literatures ; 10) (English and Arabic Edition)

History

Allen, Roger M. A.

Middle East

Bibliotheca Islamica

Studies In Middle Eastern Literatures Number Ten, 198 pages.

In the Eye of the Beholder: Tales of Egyptian Life from the Writings of Yusuf Idris

Studies in Middle Eastern Literature, 1978 edition

Three Continents Press

Sinners

Passeggiata Pr

The Sinners, a novel by the contemporary Egyptian writer Yusuf Idris, focuses on the discovery of a baby's corpse. An intense desire to bring the killer to justice arouses the local peasants, and gives them the excuse to pry into the lives of the entire community. The primary suspects are a group of indigent migrant workers, and the question of their guilt or innocence soon reveals other kinds of truths. The best-known novel of one of Egypt's leading writers, The Sinners is an evocative account of life in pre-revolutionary Egypt, taking a hard look at the social mores and taboos of peasant society.

The Sinners [a novel]

Contemporary

Lynne Rienner Publishers

Yusuf Idris (1927–91), who belonged to the same generation of pioneering Egyptian writers as Naguib Mahfouz and Tawfiq al-Hakim, is widely celebrated as the father of the Arabic short story. He studied and practiced medicine, but his interests were in politics and the support of the nationalist struggle, and in writing―and his writing, whether in his regular newspaper columns or in his fiction, often reflected his political convictions. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature more than once, and when the prize went to Naguib Mahfouz in 1988, Idris felt that he had been passed over because of his outspoken views on Israel. In all, Yusuf Idris wrote some twelve collections of superbly crafted short stories, mainly about ordinary, poor people, many of which have been translated into English and are included, along with an extract from one of his novels, in this collection of the best of his work.

The Essential Yusuf Idris: Masterpieces of the Egyptian Short Story

Literary

The American University in Cairo Press

The cheapest nights, and other stories (Arabic Edition)

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