The Tree of Misery
Taha Hussein was considered the "Dean of Arabic  Litterature". He was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize for  Litterature and is the recipient of the 1973 United Nations Human  Rights Award. He was given honorary Ph.D.'s by many western  universities and was elected a memeber of many educational academies  in other Arab countries. President Gamal Abdel Nasser bestowed the  hightest Egyptian Decoration "Qiladit al-Gomhuriya", normally reserved  for heads of state, on him. His works have been translated into  practically all languages of the world.Born in 1898 to a lower middle class family in Upper Egypt he was  blinded at a very early age by faulty treatment of an eye infection by  the local barber. Although his parents' ultimate dream was that he  should study at al-Azhar university and become a Sheikh, his deep  discontent at the narrow thinking and conservatism of his tutors at  that time and his deep thirst for knowledge led him to become the  first Egyptian to earn a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne. His prolific works  cover three categories: scientific study of Arabic literature and  Islamic history, creative literary works with social content and  political works.Taha Hussein died in Otober 1973.