Proud Beggars (New York Review Books Classics)

By Albert Cossery

Early in Proud Beggars, a brutal and motiveless homicide is devoted in a Cairo brothel. however the actual secret on the middle of Albert Cossery’s wry black comedy isn't the reason behind this loss of life however the paradoxical richness to be present in even the main materially impoverished life.
   
Chief between Cossery’s proud beggars is Gohar, a former professor became whorehouse accountant, cannabis aficionado, and road thinker. Such is his local allure that he has gathered a small coterie that incorporates Yeghen, a rhapsodic poet and drug broker, and El Kordi, an ineffectual clerk and would-be innovative who goals of rescuing a consumptive prostitute. The police investigator Nour El Dine, harboring a gloomy mystery of his personal, suspects all 3 of the homicide yet unearths himself captivated through their hot strong humor. How is it that they dwell amid degrading poverty, but own a joie de vivre that even the main assiduous forces of nation can't suppress? Do they, regardless of their rejection of social norms and all ambition, carry the key of contentment? And so this brief novel, one of Cossery’s masterpieces, is immediately biting social observation, police procedural, and a mischievous savour its personal correct.

Show description

Quick preview of Proud Beggars (New York Review Books Classics) PDF

Best Mystery books

Savannah Blues: A Novel

“Quirky, endearing characters make Savannah Blues one heck of a great time. ” —Jennifer Crusie“Mary Kay Andrews has ideal pitch in terms of endearing, smart-mouth heroines, and he or she has stuck the languid looniness of the Low kingdom completely. ”—Anne Rivers SiddonsMeet Weezie (aka Eloise) Foley, a feisty antiques “picker,” banished via her spiteful ex-husband from the home she herself restored in Savannah’s ancient district, who needs to come to phrases with a existence that has unexpectedly changed…and  now not, it, turns out for the higher.

Day of Atonement: A Decker/Lazarus Novel (Decker/Lazarus Novels)

Peter Decker of the LAPD by no means dreamed he'd be spending his honeymoon together with his new spouse, Rina Lazarus, in an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York—or bad occasion may finish it so without notice. yet a boy has vanished from the midst of this close-knit spiritual neighborhood, a stricken early life fleeing the tight bonds and strictures he felt have been strangling him.

Nemesis: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)

The Queen of poser has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the stated mistress of suspense—creator of indomitable sleuth omit Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and such a lot of different unforgettable characters—brings her complete oeuvre of creative whodunits, locked room mysteries, and confusing puzzles to Harper Paperbacks.

Dumb Witness: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)

The Queen of poser has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the said mistress of suspense—creator of indomitable sleuth leave out Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and such a lot of different unforgettable characters—brings her whole oeuvre of creative whodunits, locked room mysteries, and difficult puzzles to Harper Paperbacks.

Extra info for Proud Beggars (New York Review Books Classics)

Show sample text content

Yeghen used to be quiet. He had simply spotted a band of unkempt young children status within the front to the store, hearing their dialog in meditative silence. They appeared dumbfounded by way of what they’d simply heard. “This is a nonsmoking salon,” he stated. “There aren't any cigarette butts the following. You’re wasting precious time. ” “We’re no longer trying to find butts,” acknowledged an eight-year-old woman coated in multicolored rags. “We are looking to sleep. this can be our position. ” “You are looking to sleep already? yet it’s nonetheless too early. cross take a bit stroll. ” “Give me a piaster,” the little lady ordered. along with her hennaed hair and the colours of her outfit, she seemed like a grimy doll. “A piaster! ” Yeghen stated indignantly. “What do you need a piaster for? Aren’t you ashamed to beg? pass on, depart us by myself. we've critical issues to debate. ” “Let’s go,” acknowledged the lady with a disdainful glance. “They’re pederasts. ” “Here certainly are the misdeeds of darkness! ” acknowledged Yeghen. The band of youngsters stationed themselves no longer faraway from the shack. Yeghen saved them in sight; he observed them scuffling approximately and buying and selling insults. without doubt they have been making plans tips to get the adults out of where. Yeghen knew they have been a power bunch and they may go back to the assault. This position used to be changing into excessively perilous. “To inform the reality, that lady amuses me. ” “Who, the cigarette scavenger? ” requested Gohar. “No, grasp! The civil servant’s daughter. think! She checked out me with out disgust. And in complete gentle. She even smiled at me. I nearly imagine she reveals me beautiful. ” “You’re not likely to turn into immodest, are you? ” Gohar requested worriedly. “So then, she’s beautiful in your vainness. My expensive Yeghen, that woman is an abyss of perversity. ” “I forgot to inform you that she takes piano classes. ” Gohar didn’t have time to reply to. back, they have been disturbed. This time it used to be a whining, one-armed lottery-ticket seller. In his reliable hand he used to be conserving a final soiled, crumpled price ticket, most likely picked up at the floor. “How a lot does that price ticket win? ” Yeghen requested. “A thousand kilos, sir,” the guy spoke back. “That’s now not sufficient. Do you will have one who wins 10000? ” “There aren’t any tickets that win 10000 kilos. just a thousand. And this can be the profitable price tag. purchase it from me. might Allah increase your prosperity. ” “Go on, get out of the following. one thousand kilos! That’s simply solid for a bum. ” the fellow went off into the shadows of the vacant lot, murmuring obscure insults opposed to what a difficult, shrewish spouse. “Can you think, grasp, if we had one thousand kilos? ” “For what, my son? ” “You may well ultimately visit Syria. ” The allusion to this trip wounded Gohar rather than wonderful him, for, ultimately, it reminded him of his crime. one other dream was once crumbling. could he ever make this trip now? He had simply spoiled what was once possibly his in basic terms get away from the suffering within which the area was once floundering . It was once painful to give up that paradisiacal Syria he had conjured up and the place he desired to spend satisfied days. It was once just a dream, precise, yet wasn’t renouncing a dream the main terrible renunciation?

Download PDF sample

Rated 4.71 of 5 – based on 18 votes