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Abd al-Hakim Qasim. Rites of Assent. Peter Theroux, tr. Samia Mehrez, intro. Philadelphia. Temple University Press. 1995. xx + 172 pages. $39.95 ($12.95 paper). ISBN 1-56639-353-1 (354-X paper).
The life of Abd al-Hakim Qasim (1935-90) began in rural obscurity in the Nile Delta. It proceeded to a period of intellectual development and political involvement in Cairo, supported by a series of odd jobs. There followed four years of imprisonment for left-wing views under Nasser in the early 1960s, nine years of unhappy exile in West Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, political failure on his return to his native country, and embittering ill health at the end. This sad life produced three novels--the best known of which in the West is probably The Seven Days of Man (1969; Eng. 1989)--as well as an unfinished novel, a play, and six collections of short stories, including the two...