This paperback compendium edition combines Naguib Mahfouzs first three novels, all set in ancient Egypt, which skillfully explore recurring themes within human relationships: the balance between destiny and individual agency, the sanctity of the bonds to the land and religion, and the constant power struggles that affect human lives at multiple levels. In Khufus Wisdom, translated by Raymond Stock, Pharaoh Khufu is battling the Fates. At stake is the inheritance of Egypts throne, the proud but tender heart of Khufus beautiful daughter Princess Meresankh, and Khufus legacy as a sage, not savage, ruler. Rhadopis of Nubia, translated by Anthony Calderbank, follows the powerful love that grows between Rhadopis, a courtesan whose ravishing beauty is unmatched in time or place, and youthful, headstrong Pharaoh Merenra, worshiped by his people as a divine presence on earth, against the background of the high politics of Sixth Dynasty Egypt. Finally, in Thebes at War, translated by Humphrey Davies and written in 1937 - 1938 when Britain and Turkey held sway over Egypt, Mahfouz dramatically depicts the Egyptian peoples undying loyalty to their land and religion and their refusal to bow to outside domination. After two hundred years of occupation, the Hyksos leader in his capital in northern Egypt tells Pharaoh in the south that the roaring of the sacred hippopotami at Thebes is keeping him awake at night and demands that they be killed, galvanizing Egypt into hurling its armies into a struggle to drive the barbarians from its sacred soil forever.

About the Author

Naguib Mahfouz (1911 - 2006) was born in the Cairo district of Gamaliya. He wrote nearly 40 novel-length works, plus hundreds of short stories and numerous screenplays. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. Raymond Stock, with a PhD in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from the University of Pennsylvania, is the translator of numerous works by Mahfouz, most recently The Coffeehouse (AUC Press, 2010). Anthony Calderbank has translated several works of modern Arabic fiction, most recently Yousef Al-Mohaimeeds Muniras Bottle (AUC Press, 2010). He lives and works in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Humphrey Davies is the translator of Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz (AUC Press, 2011) and other works of Arabic literature. He has twice received the Saif Ghobash - Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.