Black Magic: A Modern Arabic Novel

By Hamdy el-Gazzar

Book Overview

As a fourteen-year-old, Nasir was entranced by his father's gift of a camera, finding in it the means both to possess beauty and to assert himself. Now a hack working for state television, Nasir meets Fatin, an independent woman older than himself who has escaped a suffocating marriage and is secure in taking what she wants from life. An affair begins that quickly pulls Nasir into a whirlwind of incandescent erotic and emotional obsession. In a world of superficiality, materialism, violence, and sexual hysteria seen through the unforgiving lens of his camera, Nasir's life is in limbo. A yearning for escape and a fear of loneliness propel him into a relationship in which he is at once enraptured and non-committal. The resolution of this volatile mix lies in a violent confrontation between repulsion and desire. Black Magic was awarded the prestigious Sawiris Foundation Prize in Egyptian Literature in 2006.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9774166264
• ISBN13: 9789774166266
• Release Date: June 2014
• Publisher: American University in Cairo Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.7" x 7.6"