A Eulogy for Two Unsung Heroes of Egyptian Literature: Yahya Haqqi and Sabri Moussa

One of the pleasures of reading critic and fiction writer ’s essays in Arabic is that I am always astonished by the breadth of his knowledge, the depth of his experience, the nimbleness of his mind and his eloquence. In the collection , he has a number of eulogies, one of which is for his uncle, , who wrote the first Egyptian novel, , about the tragedy of Denshawi in 1906 where British soldiers carelessly killed a villager while they were shooting pigeons—the incident ended tragically when villagers were rounded up and executedpeasants, and their problems and opened the way for ’s novel,  (1913). Haqqi wrote that his heart trembled when he read —which is what good stories should bring about. Haqqi deserves a eulogy, much like the ones he so generously wrote for others, about his place in Egyptian literary heritage. This seems appropriate in light of the recent celebration of the classic black and white film , or , directed by (1968), featuring , based on Haqqi’s novella. But one cannot write about this poignant film without mentioning , the talented novelist who translated the spirit of Yahya Haqqi’s novella into a suspenseful screenplay. (He also wrote the screenplay for Yahya Haqqi’s .) Sabri Moussa, who died recently, January 2018, deserves a eulogy as well for his film scripts, short fiction, and novels—the unusual sci-fi tale , the mythic fable , and