War in the Land of Egypt

Author: Yusef al-Qa'id Translators: Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Olive and Lorne Kenney, and Christopher Tingley  Publisher: Interlink (1998) War in the Land of Egypt is a Kafka-esque tale of corruption, bureaucracy, and class division, set in Egypt during the 1973 October war. al-Qa'id's ironic parody loses none of its black-comedic bite in the translation to English, while the characters and their motives—though individuals brought vividly to life—are universally recognizable and need no cultural transliteration. Multiple characters representing various strata of Egyptian society relate this tragic farce of how a poor family is crushed by the whims of the rich and the oppressive weight of a bureaucracy designed to serve only the interests of the rich. The sumptuous mosaic of modern life in the land of the pharaohs was banned in Egypt when originally published there in 1975. Artistically, the structure of War in the Land of Egypt is both pleasing and exceptionally fitting as a chronicle of m