num_pages: 266
description: Robert Irwin's seductive and disturbing fantasy classic takes the framework of the Thousand and One Nights and turns it inside out and upside down to create a phantasmagoric and sensual rendering of ancient Cairo. The hero and guiding force of this epic fantasy is an insomniac young man who, unable to sleep, guides the reader through the narrow streets of Cairo-a city mysterious and full of deceit and trickery. He narrates a complex tangle of dreams and imaginings that describe an atmosphere which is constantly shifting between sumptuously learned orientalism, erotic adventure, and dry humor. The result is a thought-provoking Chinese puzzle box of sex, philosophy, and theology. Reminiscent of Jorges Borges, Italo Calvino, and Umberto Eco, this cult classic is finally back in print in a U.S. edition.About the Author: Robert Irwin was born in 1946. He read Modern history at Oxford and taught Medieval History at the University of St. Andrews. He has written six novels that have all enjoyed critical and commercial success. He is also the author of several non-fiction works about Arabic and Middle Eastern literature and history and has lectured on these subjects at the universities of London, Cambridge and Oxford.
language: English
title: The Arabian Nightmare
titlecomplete: The Arabian Nightmare
genres: Fiction, Egypt, Historical, Magical Realism, Speculative Fiction, Horror, Literature, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Literary Fiction
ratings_count: 690
places: Cairo
publisher: Dedalus