SOURCE: Mikhail, Mona N. “Egyptian Tales of the Fantastic: Theme and Technique in the Stories of Yūsuf Idrīs.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 27 (1990): 191-98.

In the following essay, Mikhail offers a thematic and stylistic examination of Idris's short fiction.

When Naguib Mahfouz was awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature, he immediately paid tribute not only to the generations of great Arab writers that came before him, but was quick to point out that several of his contemporaries were well-deserving candidates. He cited amongst others his countrymen Yahia Haqqi and Yūsuf Idrīs as two of the most important innovators in the realm of Arabic literature.

Yūsuf Idrīs, one of Egypt's most talented writers, has been writing novels, plays, and short stories, as well as contributing editorials on varying social and political subjects for leading daily and weekly papers and magazines...