Born in Egypt at the turn of the 20th century, al-Hakim is known as the father of the Arab world’s dramatic tradition. Al-Hakim’s “thousand and second night” is an ingenious commentary on its source material. Eonnet ’07, the Loeb Ex’s production of Tawfiq al-Hakim’s existential meditation on the “Thousand and One Nights” was a compelling, almost hypnotic piece of theatre. “Shahrazad,” however, is not one of those works. Consider the ugly spectacle of works that keep beating the old horse, unaware that the good days are long gone: the sixth season of “24,” for instance, or the 11th “Redwall” book. Al-Hakim has been called the father of the theater in Egypt and the Arab world and one of the founders of the art of the play, novel, and story in modern Arabic literature.It’s usually a good rule of thumb that multi-part stories should get out while the getting’s good. Chamseddine, keen to preserve the style of Al-Hakim as a cynical, yet profound storyteller, utilized symbols to bring the reader to a conclusion touching the truth characterized within the story. Words were careful chosen to reflect the depth of the meanings Al-Hakim wished to convey to the reader’s mind and imagination, allowing English readers to enjoy these short stories as much as Arabic readers have done since the publication of the series of stories in 1953.
Abdul Rahman Chamseddine has employed his linguistic abilities to convey the atmosphere of these stories as well as the mysteries, charm, and symbolism they contain to English-speaking readers through a smooth and accurate translation.
The stories are examples of Al-Hakim’s ability to unleash his imagination to bring the reader to awareness and certainty. This translated collection “Show Me God”, originally written by playwright Tawfiq al-Hakim, includes twenty short stories that combine a curious, elegant, and mysterious exposition of the human psyche and its philosophical, symbolic, and intriguing issues and inclinations.
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