It seems that the fate of every thing is to decay in the end. A period of youth, then a middle strong period, then the aging period where it's a matter of time before it decays. This is human history with its mightiest rulers to its mightiest kingdoms, nations, empires...What really remains are the monuments, especially those that we try to remember and keep alive in our thoughts. Rashid Boudjedra's novel The 1001 Years of Nostalgia is the story of the fictional Algerian village of Manama, its people, its despotic governor, its famous inhabitant Messouda who gave birth to 18 twins all in pairs... and to our protagonist, Mohammed W.P.N (Without a Patriarchal Name), the lonely 19th son withoutan official family name. Mohammed is on a quest to establish his identity by revisiting the glories of the Arabic/Islamic Empires and compares them to the decedent reality in which he lives in the lost desert town. Satire and magical realism propel the story as the poor Manama becomes an allegory for the current Arab world, especially when foreign investors come to shoot a film based on the One Thousand Nights and A Night. The perceived reality clashes with actual reality. Boudjedra offers a scathing satire of the corrupt Arab rulers, the socio-economic situation of Arab world, highlights the question of identity that many people in such a world face.