this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2024
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I'm reading an Arabic book by "Najeeb Mahfooz" called "Alharafeesh". He's an old school writer. Greet story teller and beloved in the Arabic world. I read Arabic and English books in tandem so I don't forget my language.
Nice. What does Alharafeesh mean (assuming it's not a made up word)? And what's the book about?
It refers to the class of the poor and marginalized in society. It is an Egyptian colloquial term used to denote the common people or residents of popular neighborhoods who suffer from poverty and social injustice. Basically proletariat/the poor working class as the term goes in the western world. He uses them to express humanity's struggles with life, power, justice, and fate. The term actually carries a deeper meaning, symbolizing the ordinary, simple individual striving for dignity and justice in the face of oppression and tyranny. It spans across multiple generations in this book. Pretty simple and meaningful book. I love his books.
Ah, interesting. Thanks for the info!
Would love to hear about other Arabic books you read.
I read many. Mostly older authors and very few new ones. Tried to read "Utopia" and it was terrible so I dropped it and went back to the good old novels. Taha Hussein, Najeeb Mahfooz and the likes. I have also read pretty much all of Ali Alwardi's books, that's nonfiction, rather sociology. I read for many others, too.