{"product_id":"9781479840915","title":"What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us: Or, A Period of Time","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eTrenchant and witty critiques of life in Cairo under British rule\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhat 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterpiece of early 20th-century Arabic prose. Penned by the Egyptian journalist Muḥammad al-Muwayli?i, this highly original work was first introduced in serialized form in his family’s pioneering newspaper \u003ci\u003eMisbäh al-Sharq (Light of the East)\u003c\/i\u003e and later published in book form in 1907. Widely hailed for its erudition and mordant wit, \u003ci\u003eWhat 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us\u003c\/i\u003e was embraced by Egypt’s burgeoning reading public and soon became required reading for generations of school students.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBridging classical genres and modern Arabic fiction, \u003ci\u003eWhat 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us\u003c\/i\u003e is divided into two parts. Sarcastic in tone and critical in outlook, the first part of the book relates the excursions of its narrator, 'Isa ibn Hisham, and his companion, the Pasha, through a rapidly westernizing Cairo and provides vivid commentary on a society negotiating—however imperfectly—the clash between traditional norms and imported cultural values. The second half takes the narrator to Paris to visit the Exposition Universelle of 1900, where al-Muwayli?i casts a critical eye on European society, modernity, and the role of Western imperialism as it ripples across the globe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaving the way for the modern Arabic novel, \u003ci\u003eWhat 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us\u003c\/i\u003e is invaluable both for its insight into colonial Egypt and its pioneering role in Arabic literary history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New York University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50033514053872,"sku":"9781479840915","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781479840915","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}