Being Abbas el Abd

A Modern Egyptian Novel

A cult classic in modern Arab literature, filled with black humor and satire, reissued in a new edition

What this inventive and mad novel portrays is the split within Egyptian society, torn between religiosity and liberation.Robert Sol, Le Monde

“What is madness? asks the narrator of Ahmed Alaidys jittery, funny, and angry novel. Assuring readers that they are about to find out, the narrator takes us on a journey through the insanity of present-day Cairoin and out of minibuses, malls, and crash pads, navigating the citys pinball machine of social life with tolerable efficiency.

But lurking under the rocks in his grouchy, chain-smoking, pharmaceutically-oriented, twenty-something life are characters like his elusive psychiatrist uncle with a disturbing interest in phobias. And then theres Abbas, the narrators best friend who surfaces at critical moments to drive our he