The Hashish Waiter

by Shalaby, Khairy; Talib, Adam

• ISBN13: 9789774163005
• ISBN10: 9774163001
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-07-01
• Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press

Summary

Tucked away in a rundown quarter, just out of sight of fashionable downtown Cairo, a group of intellectuals gathers regularly to smoke hashish in Hakeem's den. The den is the center of their lives, both a refuge and a stimulus, and at the center of the den is the remarkable man who keeps their hashish bowls topped up'”Saleh Bedlam. While his former life is a mystery to his loyal clientele of writers, painters, film directors, and even window dressers, each sees himself reflected in Saleh; but without his humor, humility, or insight, or his occasional passions fueled by hootch. And when the nation has to face its own demons during the peace initiative of the 1970s, it is Saleh Bedlam who speaks for them all. This is a comic novel with a broken heart very like Saleh himself, whose warm rough voice calls out long after we have recovered from the novel's painful conclusion.

Author Biography

Khairy Shalaby (1938-2011) was born in Kafr al-Shaykh in Egypt's Nile Delta. He wrote seventy books, including novels, short stories, historical tales, and critical studies. His novel The Lodging House was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2003, and was published in English translation by the AUC Press in 2006.

Adam Talib is assistant professor in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations at the American University in Cairo, and is the translator of Mekkawi Said's Cairo Swan Song (AUC Press, 2009).