Critique and Reform

The messages of literature and reform were not separate from each other. Rather, Taha Hussein embraced them both, sometimes in parallel and sometimes intersecting, giving them the attention they deserved, which is clearly evident in this book. Taha Hussein, the discerning literary figure who understood full well that different tastes and critical approaches produce different readings of literary works, presents in the first part of his book reviews of various narrative, poetic, and literary works. These works were produced by the pens of diverse Arab and foreign writers with varied backgrounds and inclinations, including Youssef El Sebai, Naguib Mahfouz, Yehia Haqqi, and Albert Camus. The second part of the book addresses topics of a reformist nature, concerning social justice, education, jurisprudential ijtihad, and the disputes that occurred between the author and the Al-Azhar institution in Egypt over a host of contentious issues.