The Dreams

In this new collection of his shortest short stories, the Egyptian Nobel laureate has reduced fictional form to its most essential level, while retaining his famous mastery of storytelling.

A man finds that all the streets in this neighborhood have turned into a circus, changing his joy to anger when he cannot escape it even in his own home. A group of lifelong friends meet to trade jokes in a familiar alley, only to face a sudden, deadly flood echoing revenge from ancient Egyptian myth. A girl from the dreamer’s childhood flies with him from his native lane on a winged horse to become a star above the Great Pyramid.

Such is the essence of Naguib Mahfouz’s The Dreams - his first major work since being wounded in a knife attack in 1994 that left him unable to write for years. Originally serialized in a Cairo magazine, The Dreams is a haunting blend of the everyday, lyrical beauty, and nightmarish visions, reflecting over nine decades of artistic genius and life experience.