I Found Myself: Last Dreams

The dreams in this elegant collection from Egyptian Nobel laureate Mahfouz (1911–2006) reveal hints of regret over losing a former lover and fears of repression, all tinged with the wistfulness of old age. In an evocative introduction to his translation, Matar shares a story of meeting Mahfouz at a gathering in 1994 Cairo, five years after the author survived a stabbing by a religious extremist over objections to his novel Children of Gebelawi. Matar also introduces his wife Diana’s accompanying photographs, taken in the streets of Cairo around the time of his meeting with Mahfouz before such photography became impossible under the increasingly repressive Mubarak regime. The quotidian and spare scenes illuminate the images in Mahfouz’s dreams, about encounters with friends or musings on landmarks. Glimpses of warfare and political upheaval are peppered throughout, often with a pessimistic view. Most impactful are the recurring dreams of Mahfouz’s long-ago lover B and his continued desire for her, as he reads her obituary in one dream and she tells him to forget her in another, the latter of which yields the chilling line, “it was as though the very last candle had gone out.” Lovers of international literature will appreciate these well-honed snapshots. (June)