Voices from the Other World: Ancient Egyptian Tales

By Naguib Mahfouz

Book Overview

Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz reaches back millennia to his homeland's majestic past in this enchanting collection of early tales that brings the world of ancient Egypt face to face with our own times. From the Predynastic Period, where a cabal of entrenched rulers banish virtue in jealous defense of their status, to the Fifth Dynasty, where a Pharaoh returns from an extended leave to find that only his dog has remained loyal, to the twentieth century, where a mummy from the Eighteenth Dynasty awakens in fury to reproach a modern Egyptian nobleman for his arrogance, these five stories conduct timeless truths over the course of thousands of years. Summoning the power and mystery of a legendary civilization, they examplify the artistry that has made Mahfouz among the most revered writers in world literature. Translated by Raymond Stock

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400076668
• ISBN13: 9781400076666
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Nice!

Having just returned from a wonderful Egypt tour, I wanted to read books published by the famous author. I was not disappointed!

Masterful stories

Mahfouz stunned me with The Cairo Trilogy, so I sought more stories to read. This book will be my next Book Club choice because each short tale is full of interesting topics to discuss. It is such fun to feel like you are visiting these people who lived in Egypt so long ago. Mahfouz makes them real, heart breaking, funny....another beautifully written book.Highly recommended.

I love road movies...

I love this tales. They put me on the way of adventure. They are big flashes-back to far away countries whereof I dreamt during my whole youth. A second reason of joy in my lecture of that special book, is he tale with the title 'A voice from the other world', where a mummy from the 18th Dynasty awakens to explain what happens when a man passes to the other side. He was 26 years old when he died. He tells us how he felt when he saw that his family and friends wept; and with the embauming of his corpse... He tells us how people are mistaken. That the only thing that counts is the happiness and the sunshine in life after dead..''I yielded myself t an infinite love... I sank into eternity!'' Death is neither painful nor terrifying, as mortals imagine. If they knew the truth about it, they would seek it out as they do with well-aged wine, preferring it over all others. - I must read more ofd those wunderful books.Mahfouz is a great poet. Johan Everaert