The Mountain of Green Tea and other stories

by Thabit A.J. Abdullah, Denys Johnson-Davies (Translator)

Yahya Taher Abdullah writes with a poetic vividness that is unblurred by outside influences. His raw material is the harsh life of the peasants of Upper Egypt, or of Cairo seen through the eyes of peasants who have migrated there in search of work. Few writers delve so subtly into a society that is strictly bounded by religious and social mores and rigid codes of behavior. It is a society without sophistication, whose members concern themselves with such basic matters as money and personal honor, and where death is ever-present to put an end to their futile endeavors. Abdullah deals with a psychological world that has no equivalent in Western life or literature. Unfamiliar though it may be, it is made real and significant by his sensitivity and artistry.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

125 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

Thabit Abdullah is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of York, Toronto, Canada.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel bad rating this so low because there was some very lovely writing and interesting, thoughtful stories (the story from the dogs perspective!), but it was also so difficult to follow. These short stories, many of which were really short, felt so dense. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to translate and a lot of the context is lost on me as well. Would love to read more by Egyptian authors as apparently this one was one of the tougher to translate!

[Sunny · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories from a relatively unknown egyptian writer. im sure this translates better in egyptian but i couldnt really understand any of the short stories. there is one interesting short story told from the perspective of a dog but that was about it for me.