From the ivory tower

Author's name: Tawfiq Al-Hakim

“The title ‘The Ivory Tower’ stuck with me, and some understood it as a sign of apathy toward society and its events. It wasn’t simply understood as a sign of distancing oneself from the sterile noise of partisan disputes that dominated our society at that time, or that the ivory tower is the elevated place from which free thought overlooks the truths devoid of whims and personal interests. I believe that every person, especially the thinker and artist, has a high, free zone in his life where he can seclude himself and see things in their clarity. The ivory tower is to man like the high tower is to pigeons. During the day, the pigeons descend to the ground, pick up their food grains, and then fly to the heights of their towers. If it had the same atonement nature as man, it would have contemplated things in its tower, just as we do in ours. So those who are interested in understanding what I mean by ‘the ivory tower’ should read this book. They may notice some features of the past and its concerns in today’s present.”