Title:                  The Harafish
 Author:                 Naguib Mahfouz
 Read By:                Fred Major
 Copyright:              1993
 Audiobook Copyright:    2008
 Genre:                  Fiction

File Information
================
 Number of MP3s:         11
 Total Duration:         13:13:17
 Total MP3 Size:         545.44
 Parity Archive:         No
 Ripped With:            audacity
 Encoded With:           LAME
 Encoded At:             CBR 96 kbit/s 44100 Hz Mono
 Noise Reduction:        Adobe Audition
 ID3 Tags:               Set, v1.1, v2.3

Book Description
================
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988,  Naguib Mahfouz is 
perhaps the best-known living  Arab writer. His books have had great 
success in  this country, particularly The Cairo  Trilogy. Fans of the 
famed trilogy will be  delighted with The Harafish, an epic  novel that 
chronicles the dramatic history of the  al-Nagi family -- a family that 
 moves, over many generations, from the height of power  and glory to 
the depths of decadence and decay.  The Harafish begins with the tale 
 of Ashur al-Nagi, a man who  grows from humble beginnings to become 
a great leader,  a legend among his people. Generation after  generation, 
however, Ashur's descendants grow further  from his legendary example. 
They lose touch with  their origins as they amass and then squander 
large  fortunes, marry prostitutes when they marry at all,  and develop 
rivalries that end in death. The  community's upper class keeps a watchful 
eye on the  descendants of al-Nagi for fear  of losing their privileges, 
but they find no threat  of another such as Ashur. Not, that is, until 
the  al-Nagi who, like his noble  ancestor, finds his power once again 
from among  The Harafish, or the common people.  Through the strength 
of their numbers and their  passion, the glory of the name of  al-Nagi 
is restored. "Of all  [Mahfouz's] experiments in recent decades, this 
 is the one which owes least to western inspiration  and is probably 
the most successful. The  Harafish, fluently translated by  Catherine 
Cobham, makes accessible and engrossing reading."  -- The Washington 
Post Book World.