Elias Khoury’s Little Mountain

In the foreword to the translation of Little Mountain, Edward Said argues that Khoury's novel “in equal measure...derives and departs” from the Arabic novel, breaking with Naguib Mahfouz's realist style. As Said puts it “from this perspective Khoury’s work bids Mahfouz an inevitable and yet profoundly respectful farewell.” Said notes that in societies such as …