Author: Naguib Mahfouz
Publisher: Black Swan
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: 498
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0552995800
Description
Palace of Desire is the second volume of the celebrated Cairo Trilogy, which, like Palace Walk, is a rich and teeming chronicle in which the enigmatic city of Cairo becomes a character itself.
Here we find the ageing patriarch pursuing a sexually alluring lute-player - only to find she has married his eldest son. Meanwhile, the women of the family test the loosening reins of parental and societal domination and the idealistic younger son ardently courts a rich, sophisticated young woman, in an affecting portrayal of unrequited love that is in many ways a portrait of the young Mahfouz.
Palace of Desire, like Palace Walk, is a rich and teeming chronicle in which the enigmatic city of Cairo becomes a character itself. Filled with compelling drama and earthy humor, this is an unforgettable story of the sometimes violent clash between ideals and realities, dreams and desires, which again displays Mahfouz's masterful storytelling talent.
COMMENTS:
Shamelessly entertaining. - Guardian
An engrossing work, whose author can take his place alongside any European Master you care to name. - Sunday Times
Teeming with life and contention . . It promises riches. - Anthony Burgess, Independent