I Do Not Sleep

A story of betrayal, desire, and family drama, written by a giant of Egyptian popular fiction who shocked readers in the 1950s when this Lolita-esque novel first appeared and whose work has never before been available in English

Sixteen-year-old Nadia had been raised by her father, after her parents divorced when she was only a baby. Indulged and petulant, she remained the only female in her father’s life. But when she returns from boarding school to find that he has remarried without her knowledge, she conspires to restore her rightful place, creating misery, confusion, and a flood of unexpected consequences in her wake.

Written as a letter, a confession, by now twenty-one-year old Nadia, Ihsan Abdel Kouddous’s classic novel of revenge and betrayal challenges patriarchal norms with its strong female characters and brazen sexuality, and continues to speak to the complex human condition. It dives into middle-class life, and lays bare the repressed desires, seething jealousies, and complicated dramas of family.

Abdel Kouddous’s masterpiece I Do Not Sleep was adapted into a classic of Egyptian cinema in 1957, and its publication for the first time in English is an international publishing event.

“"Fresh, unpretentious and irresistibly cinematic"-- ArabLit "Abdel Kouddous enriched Egyptian literature and cinema with everlasting works"-- Egypt Today "Ihsan is an artist"--Tawfik al-Hakim, author of Return of the Spirit "Abdel Kouddous enriched the world of Arab culture."-- Sky News Arabia "What sets Ihsan Abdel Kouddous apart is his ability to combine, on the page, the different overlapping threads of politics and society."-- Al-Shorouk "The novel I Do Not Sleep represents a turning point in Ihsan Abdel Kouddous's narratorial style."-- Hafriyat”

"[One] of the best new works from around the world"—The Irish Times

"This 1950s Egyptian epistolary novel is told by a young woman looking back on the misery, patriarchy and middle-class life that surrounded her upon her return from boarding school."—New York Times Book Review

"Kouddous . . .wrote fiction about the Arab world way ahead of its time, pared down and powerful."—LitHub

"Fresh, unpretentious and irresistibly cinematic"—ArabLit

"A must-read book set in Cairo"—Electric Literature

"A classic of Egyptian Literature. It's great that books like this are being published and that Ihsan Abdel Kouddous' work is available to the English reader in such a good translation."—Raphael Cormack, author of Midnight in Cairo

"Ihsan Abdel Kouddous was a great novelist, a pioneer journalist, and a progressive activist who long fought for women’s rights and secular democratic values."—Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building

"Abdel Kouddous enriched Egyptian literature and cinema with everlasting works"—Egypt Today

“Ihsan is an artist”—Tawfik al-Hakim, author of Return of the Spirit

“Abdel Kouddous enriched the world of Arab culture.”—Sky News Arabia

“What sets Ihsan Abdel Kouddous apart is his ability to combine, on the page, the different overlapping threads of politics and society.”—Al-Shorouk

“The novel I Do Not Sleep represents a turning point in Ihsan Abdel Kouddous’s narratorial style.”—Hafriyat

Ihsan Abdel Kouddous (1919–90) is one of the most prolific and popular writers of Arabic fiction of the twentieth century. Born in Cairo, Egypt, Abdel Kouddous graduated from law school in 1942 but left his law practice to pursue a long and successful career in journalism. He was an editor at the daily Al-Akhbar, the weekly Rose al-Yusuf, and was editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram. The author of dozens of books, his controversial writings and political views landed him in jail more than once.

Jonathan Smolin is the Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor in Asian Studies at Dartmouth College in the US. He is the translator of several works of Arabic fiction, including Whitefly by Abdelilah Hamdouchi and A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me by Youssef Fadel.

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