Yusuf Idris (also Yusif Idris; Arabic: ) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels. He wrote realistic stories about ordinary and poor people. Many of his works are in the Egyptian vernacular, and he was considered a master of the short story. Idris originally trained to be a doctor, studying at the University of Cairo. He sought to put the foundations of a modern Egyptian theatre based on popular traditions and folklore, his main success in this quest was his most famous work, a play called "Al-Farafeer" depicting two main characters: the Master and the "Farfour" [=poor layman]. For some time he was a regular writer in the famous daily newspaper Al-Ahram. It is known that he was nominated several times to win the Nobel prize for literature.
From the English edition of The Cheapest Nights: "While a medical student his work against Farouk鈥檚 regime and the British led to his imprisonment and suspension from College. After graduation he worked at Kasr el Eini, the largest government hospital in Egypt. He supported Nasser鈥檚 rise to power but became disillusioned in 1954 at the time when his first collection of stories The Cheapest Nights was published . . Yusuf Idris鈥� stories are powerful and immediate reflections of the experiences of his own rebellious life. His continuing contact with the struggling poor enables him to portray characters sensitively and imaginatively."
The Cheapest Nights reveals the vicious circle of life in an Egyptian village. Without money and unable to sleep because of the cup of tea he just drank, Abdel Kerim turns to his wife and their bed for the only entertainment he can afford, and as a result one more unwanted child is born into poverty, doomed to die of disease or starvation. You Are Everything to Me tells of Ramadan, a traffic cop who feels his life is ending when he develops erectile dysfunction. Just as he suggests divorce to his wife, he escapes his self-centered gloom: he finds new life by devoting himself to his son again. In The Errand, El Shabrawi the policeman escorts a crazy woman to Cairo in hopes of having a fun day on the town. Everything goes wrong because of her fits and his poor planning, but in the end he realizes she鈥檚 not to blame and develops charity for her. Abdou adds 鈥渂lood donor鈥� to the list of odd jobs he has worked to support himself and his wife, Nefissa, in Hard Up. Anemia soon puts an end to his brief stint in that field. The Queue explains why an iron fence has only one piece of cement wall in it. The wall was part of a landowner鈥檚 stubborn war with peasants who refused to use the proper entrance to the market place on his property. They foiled all his attempts to block their illegal queue 鈥� including the wall 鈥� and the government seized it from him anyway. The Funeral Ceremony is a portrait of Abou鈥檒 Metwalli who haggles with an undertaker over fees and the number of dead children he has buried for Abou鈥檒. A group of village boys foresee their dead-end destiny after beating up their ringleader for making fools of them in All on a Summer鈥檚 Night. The Caller in the Night tells of a boastful medical student who refuses to pay a poor, honest fellah for bringing him the corpse he had boastingly asked for. In The Dregs of the City, Judge Abdallah shows his callousness by forcing a poor married woman into prostitution then shaming her publicly for stealing his watch. 鈥淒id You Have to Turn on the Light, Li-Li?鈥� asks a good-Sheikh-gone-bad before leaving his hung-over congregation prostrate in prayer to rendezvous with Li-Li, the seductress next door. Having ruined his religiosity, she rejects him at the threshold. Dr. Khaled sees charity amid the rampant corruption of Cairo鈥檚 death certification system in Death from Old Age. Though doubtful at first, he gives Am Mohamed, one of the middlemen鈥檚 laborers, this most merciful notation possible on his death certificate. In Bringing in the Bride, Sheikh Ragab turns the tables on false hospitality by surprisingly accepting every homestead鈥檚 malicious invitation to a marriage feast. The Shame tells of Fatma鈥檚 loss of innocence when she and Gharib are falsely accused of fornication. Life goes on, but Fatma is no longer innocently beautiful: she seems to understand the effect she has on men after the incident. Borham can鈥檛 help shamefully obsessing over his mother鈥檚 extramarital sex life when he sleeps under the bed in Because the Day of Judgement [sic] Never Comes. The Freak is a deformed and mentally retarded boy who lives in a village where everyone assumes he鈥檚 harmless, but no one seems to know his origin. Rumors circulate and worsen until no one trusts him any more. Eventually, someone murders him and only his mother, Na鈥檃sa, mourns his death.
The medium of the short story seems particularly suited to giving me a wide sample of the topics and settings important to Arabs. I found recurring themes in Idris鈥檚 many short stories: the marital relationship; infidelity; sexual immorality; male dominance through violence; poverty; religious devotion; desperation; drug abuse; mental health; death; bureaucratic corruption; rumors; class conflict; and disease. Idris鈥檚 only topic unusual to most of the Arabic authors I have read was homosexuality, and he portrayed that dilemma relatively evenhandedly. I suppose the aforementioned themes are common to all humanity, but Idris approaches them in a distinctly Egyptian way. He exposes his characters鈥� weaknesses, fears, and prejudices satirically. Many of the characters are all gravely serious and earnestly concerned about the dilemmas in which they find themselves, yet Idris usually portrays their situations as ironic and even laughable. Some of the characters even recognize contradiction and corruption in their culture but often choose to shrug it off. Those characters that chose to fight these contradictions almost inevitably end up wearing themselves out in the process. I had never observed the sarcastic side of the Arab sense of humor before reading Idris鈥檚 short stories. I enjoyed the irony to a degree, but the overwhelming majority of his stories employed irony whereas I might have enjoyed seeing more than four of them end with positive changes in the main characters. Even so, I liked Idris鈥檚 style enough that, aside from the generational histories of Naguib Mahfouz, I read Yusuf Idris most.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A lot on Egyptian customs / traditions. Mostly small town and village life, with a couple set in Cairo. A lot of his endings aren't my taste, but I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or just his own personal style.
Favorites: "The Errand" - A small town policeman escorts a mentally ill woman to a Cairo hospital. "The Freak" - A deaf and dumb man's effect on villagers. "The Dregs of the City" - A Cairo judge.
A collection of short stories primarily dealing with various aspects of life in rural Egyptian communities. Idris displays great skill in combining compassion and irony and in describing the psychology of his characters.
Very well written and an astute insight into the lives of everyday Egyptians, especially regarding class-cultural divides. No matter how simple the stories are, you receive a sense of closure and even a strong moral by the end nonetheless. They say a lot without having to SAY a lot, if that makes sense. It was also interesting to see sex as such a strong theme, which has been avoided in other Arab works I鈥檝e read.
My only qualm is that the male gaze will never cease to sicken me, but since that鈥檚 how men view women anyway then speak your truth I guess??馃槶 but in general, unrelated to objectification, I鈥檝e found that it鈥檚 more refreshing to read from the perspective of unlikable (or even intolerable) main characters because you get a glimpse of their thought processes and become more invested/heated as a result
A waltz with the taboo and haram, a two step with the proletariat, a twerk off with your favourite 'mu7taram' middle class author.听
Is it '3eib'? Does it fall into the realm of 'elit adab!'? Then Yusuf Idris is likely to have written about it. Drugs, lust, the frailty of mens convictions, class warfare, desire, greed, and he does听 not write听 in a way that glorifies or takes pleasure in these things, but in a way that seeks to bring darkness to light. To tell stories other, more 'mo7tarameen' (respectable), middle class, religiously proper authors won't bother with. what other author focuses primarily on the poor and working class? Which other Egyptian author writes about topics such as erectile dysfunction and insanity. Which other author focuses primarily on the poor and working class?
This book is full of short and hard hitting stories, with a propensity to look into the soul that is usually found in Russian literature.听
I am slowly realising that the lower the ratings of an Arabic book in 欧宝娱乐, the better it is. It seems the Arabic speaking community does not like controversy much, preferring to tread narrow and familiar waters.