Shadow of the Snake

Author's name: Youssef Ziedan

An amazing and very contemporary novel.. Contemporary because it is written in a way that is the most modern I have read in the novels of a number of great Western and Japanese novelists, in terms of the use of knowledge in weaving the material of the novel. In this novel, despite its small size, there is a large amount of knowledge, and it is no less rich in poetry, knowledge, or precise construction than the novel (Foucault's Pendulum), which is huge in the number of pages. Sami Khashaba, with this first novel, Youssef Ziedan storms the sanctum of artistic creativity with remarkable boldness, experimenting with new variations in literary form. It is a unique experience, in which there is strength and knowledge that sometimes overthrow the novelistic techniques that we know, and in which there is extreme cunning and rhetorical ability, which many linguists are unable to do.. and in which there is the ability to raise profound questions. Salah Fadl