About the Translator
HUMPHREY DAVIES earned his doctorate in Near Eastern studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the translator of Thebes at War by Naguib Mahfouz.
Praise for The Yacoubian Building
“Captivating and controversial… An amazing glimpse of modern Egyptian society and culture.”
“With its interlocking vignettes and intertwining characters, Alaa Al Aswany’s hip and racy novel creates a complex narrative of contemporary Egyptian life.” — Kaelen Wilson-Goldie,
“Richly peppered with complex characters… A provocative survey of the social and political pressures of the present that has many Egyptians looking too nostalgically to their more tolerant and hopeful past.”
“The publication of The Yacoubian Building has enriched the art of the Egyptian novel.”
“Delves into a mix of power, corruption, sex, exploitation, poverty, and extremism… [The Yacoubian Building] lucidly captures the varied aspects of Egyptian life: straight, gay, rich, poor, powerful, and powerless.”
“The novel’s elegant prose touches sensitive nerves in its look at the country’s corruption and religious fanaticism… No other Egyptian, or Arab writer for that matter, has so boldly broken through the literary stagnation of the last fifty years by addressing these themes. Except perhaps Naguib Mahfouz, the Nobel laureate who penned The Cairo Trilogy in the 1950s.”