Egyptian writers
Taha Hussein: where to start
Taha Hussein, called the Dean of Arabic Literature, was a novelist, critic and reformer who changed Egyptian culture. Here is who he was, which of his books to read first, and where to go next.
Who is Taha Hussein?
Hussein was born in Upper Egypt in 1889 and lost his sight as a small child. He studied at al-Azhar and the new Egyptian University, and earned a doctorate at the Sorbonne in Paris.
His 1926 book On Pre-Islamic Poetry caused a national scandal by questioning the authenticity of early Arabic poetry. As Minister of Education in the early 1950s he championed free public education, declaring that it should be as free as water and air. He died in Cairo in 1973.
Where to start
From 1929
The Days
His autobiography: a blind boy in an Egyptian village, then a student in Cairo and Paris. A classic of modern Arabic prose.
1934
The Call of the Curlew
A young village woman, a family tragedy and a quiet revenge.
Why read Taha Hussein today
The Days is one of the great memoirs of the twentieth century, moving and gently funny, and it shows how far one person’s will and education can carry them.
Another Egyptian voice
Taha Hussein looked outward from Egypt to Europe and back again. A.M. Khalifa, raised in a diplomatic corps family across more than fifteen countries, writes from the same crossroads.
A.M. Khalifa grew up in a diplomatic corps family across more than fifteen countries and is the only Egyptian writing commercial espionage fiction in English. His debut, Terminal Rage, has sold more than 500,000 copies and received a starred review from Booklist.
More Egyptian writers
Naguib Mahfouz · Alaa Al Aswany · Ahdaf Soueif · Nawal El Saadawi · Omar El Akkad · Ahmed Mourad · Ahmed Khaled Towfik · Tawfiq al-Hakim · Radwa Ashour · Yusuf Idris · Latifa al-Zayyat · Bahaa Taher · Youssef Ziedan · Sonallah Ibrahim · Ibrahim Abdel Meguid · Ezzedine Choukri Fishere · Khaled Al Khamissi · Mansoura Ez-Eldin · Waguih Ghali · Yasmine El Rashidi · Noor Naga · Omar Robert Hamilton · Nabil Farouk · A.M. Khalifa
Questions
What is Taha Hussein’s most famous book?
The Days (al-Ayyam), his autobiography.
Why is Taha Hussein called the Dean of Arabic Literature?
For his towering influence as a writer, critic and educator in twentieth-century Arabic culture.
Who are other classic Egyptian writers?
Tawfiq al-Hakim, Naguib Mahfouz and Yusuf Idris.