What a delight to discover Egyptian author Taha Hussein (1889-1973), who despite being blind from the age of two, became the most influential advocate of Arabic literary modernism and the "Egyptian Renaissance". In this collection Hussein weaves the stories of the "wretched" who dared to dream of a life without misery, and the "wealthy" who revelled in their greed and ignorance. Hussein's introduction to "The Sufferers" is a powerful condemnation of censorship and dictatorship, and is as relevant today as it was when he penned it during the last days of the monarchy.

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