SOURCE: al-Naja, Abu al-Ma‘ati Abu. “The Short Story Collection, Vision at Fault.” In Critical Perspectives on Yusuf Idris, edited by Roger Allen, pp. 97-104. Colorado Springs: Three Continents Press, 1994.

In the following essay, which was originally published in 1989, al-Naja considers the main thematic concerns of Vision at Fault.

Even if we overlook the explanations that Yusuf Idris has proffered in a number of newspaper statements regarding the reasons for his preference for writing journalistic articles in recent years, the reader of this latest collection finds himself—perhaps unintentionally—posing himself a question as he considers the stories included: Is there a connection between the current small output of this story writer and the kind of experiments which he now considers worthy of being couched in short story form? Expressed differently, has short story writing, as far as Yusuf Idris is concerned, turned into a kind of quest...