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The misadventures of a modern time traveler through Egypt’s recent and medieval past
Ibn Shalaby, like many Egyptians, is looking for a job. Yet, unlike most of his fellow citizens, he is prone to sudden dislocations in time. Armed with his trusty briefcase and his Islamic-calendar wristwatch, he bounces uncontrollably through Egypt’s rich and varied past, with occasional return visits to the 1990s.
Through his wild and whimsical adventures, he meets, befriends, and falls out with sultans, poets, and an assortment of celebrities—from Naguib Mahfouz to the founder of the city of Cairo. Khairy Shalaby’s nimble storytelling brings this witty odyssey to life.
"Fantastical and surreal."—Cairo 360
“[The] time travel is actually a rescue mission. Its deeper intention is to conscript the entire Egyptian Islamic history in order to recuperate the authentic Egyptian national character.”—Nasser Rabat, author of Writing Egypt
Khairy Shalaby (1938–2011) was born in Kafr al-Shaykh in Egypt’s Nile Delta. He wrote seventy books, including novels, short stories, historical tales, and critical studies. His novel The Lodging House was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2003, and was published in English translation by the AUC Press in 2006.
Michael Cooperson (translator) is professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2016 he won the Sheikh Hamad Award for his translation of Ibn al-Jawzi's Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.