I often wonder about sentences – about their impact, their purity, their necessity of being. I wonder about wasted words, wasted pages, and wasted stories. I wonder every time I read.Yet, whenever I reach for The Proud Beggars, I find myself in awe, mesmerized, a captive to Cossery’s mastery of language, his scenes, his characters, and his ideology. If there ever was the perfect literary book, for me, it is this one.No matter how many times I read this book, it never fails to grab me anew and bring me to my knees.Through his easy flowing, imagery-rich writing, Cossery breathes life into his main characters: Gohar, a wealthy, respected philosophy professor, who leaves everything to become a beggar; Yeghen, a hideous derelict poet, who values friendship above his own life; El Kordi, a government clerk, who is too occupied with noble ideals to actually perform any work; and Nour el Dine, a pederast police inspector, who wonders whether all he serves and believes in is only a sham.Cossery’s mastery of language (and Cushing’s excellent translation) delivers an astounding experience, both visual and emotional. His writing is renown for giving voice to the least fortunate of men, and he continues this tradition in The Proud Beggars. Using the Cairo slums as a background, Cossery is not satisfied with merely painting the surroundings…he delves deep and bores through the fabric of societal hierarchy all the way to the deepest bottom, to circles where one does not need to pretend anymore. A world of men only a modern society is capable of producing, a world where misery seeps from every pore ad infinitum. An obscure world of cigarette-butt scavengers, prostitutes, secret gay lovers, street vendors, drug dealers, and the worst of the scum, while across the river the lights shine brightly on the most exquisite merchandise.Although the story takes place in pre-WWII era, Cossery’s philosophy proves itself timeless and remains relevant today: A man is only free when he has nothing to lose. Society, and the middle class in particular, is merely tied down, chained by its priced possessions, and forced to forfeit liberties in exchange for meaningless artifacts. Can we argue with such a view? Certainly, and we should. But how different are we really? How different is life in these ‘glory days’? We might not have the need to scavenge for food, but we continue to chase after the coolest gadgets, the latest fashion, the shiniest jewelry, and the best living spaces. We continue to sell part of ourselves for these comforts.This book, however, is not about the absurdity of modern-day society. (Nor am I standing atop a soapbox.) It is, first and foremost, a human story — a story of dignity, of man’s weaknesses and strengths, of enlightenment and perversity. It is a story of the blind tearing off their veils and seeing, for the first time, what really matters. And from there, we are on our own, as Cossery, after a spectacular ending, leaves to us the choice to see or not to see.I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys deep psychological dramas.
يمكن شخصيات الرواية وكيفية اختيارها كانت اكتر ناحية عجبتني في الرواية ، .مثلا ، جوهر مثقف فقير مُعدم يعيش في حجرة مهدمة فقيرة، لا تصلح للحيوانات، وينام علي جرائد لا يجد قوت يومه ،شخصية قليلة الحديث ،دائما ما يشعر بالزيف نحو الاشياء ،يري ان التشرد انسب فلسفة للحياة ، ترك منصبه كأستاذ للتاريخ في الجامعه ليعمل مراجعا للحسابات في يبت الدعارة،وذلك لشعوره بالزيف في منطق التاريخ، خصوصا وفي منطق العلم عموما، حيث يعتبر بيت الدعارة اكثر صدقا من كتب التاريخ والمناصب الجامعية.توقف جوهر عن القراءة والثقافة، ولكنه مازال يراقب ويتابع بعينيه فقط، ويبدي آرائه وفقا لثقافته السابقة. كردي شخصية ثورية متأثرا بالادب الغربي،يفكر ليلاً نهاراً في احداث ثورة من اجل المهمشين والبؤساء، متعلق دائما بأمال رومانسية لا تتحقق ولكنه يستمر بالتلعق بها الي نهاية الروايةيكن شخصية رومانسية حالمة يعيش علي الهامش يحب الاشعار كثيرا ويكتب الكثير ايضا ولكنه ليس علي مستوي عال من الثقافة يحب امرأة ارستقراطية لا يتحدث معها يسمع موسيقاها خارج الفيلا التي تقطن بهاو يحبها في صمتشخص رقيق حقاًيُذكرني كثيراً بأغنية فيروز "اهواك بلا أملفهذا الشخص يمتلك من البؤس الرومانسي كماً بتوافق ويتطابق مع هذه الاغنية الحزينة والجميلة " البير قصيري اختار شخصيات الرواية شخصيات مشردةبتندمج فيهم روح الكسل والفلسفة ، علي الرغم من اندماجهم في الاشيء ومحاولتهم الدائمة في تدمير ذواتهم الا ان حياتهم رافضة لاي قيود او مبادئ رسمية او حتي اجتماعية حيث يظهر عشق التفلسف والافكار علي افعالهم ومواقفهم تجاه الحارة، وتجاه المجتمع وده ماهو إلا رمزية عن الثورة علي السُلطة والقوانينسرد الرواية كان بطريقة ممتعة فكرة الصراع بين الشخصيات التلاتة والضابط وهو ما يمثل سلطة الدولة والقانون جائت بشكل سريالي عجبني جدا ألبير قصيري روائي راقي في أسلوبه وأفكاره مخدش حقه كروائي مصري ..ودي كانت أول رواية أقرأها ليه واستمتعت بيها جدا
Do You like book Proud Beggars (2011)?
I really enjoyed reading that, after I've watched the film. Both are very very close and I've found the characters in the film truly matched their equivalents in the book. It's a deeply moving story and I must admit that sometimes I even identified with El Kordi, who with his ideals and unsatisfied existence reminded me of myself at a younger age......now I'm becoming more and more like Gohar.......An excellent character study of the four protagonists and depiction of life in poverty by Albert Cossery.
—Mikola
The comments on the back say that this book, set in post-WWII Cairo, is elegant, ironic, charmingly humorous, and reflective. They rave about Cossery's rejection of authority and dismissal of ambition. These assessments are mostly accurate. What's missing, to this reader at least, is a reference to the sexism wrapped up in all this elegance and humor. The central act of the novel is a hashish addict strangling a young prostitute because he erroneously believes that he'll be able to buy a large quantity of the drug by selling her 'gold' bracelets. (Is hasish addictive? Maybe not chemically, but the character clearly can't live without it.) Gohar, the addict, is never held accountable. I understand that Cossery's point is that Egypt's repressive state doesn't have the moral right to punish Gohar. However, in all of his elegant prose, Cossery never even hints that murdering the young woman is morally wrong. The prostitute is disposable: for Gohar, for Cairo, and for Cossery.I expected existentialism from this novel. Instead, it delivered grim nihilism.
—Michael
This is an incredible novel! I do not know if it is satirical or deadly serious. Probably both. Set in Post WWII Egypt amongst a host of beggars, the reader gets a glimpse into a sub-culture which may well represent the only means to true peace and joy? If one has nothing left to lose, life becomes full of peace? The cast of characters?: Gohar (university professor become hashish addict whose dream is to migrate to Syria where there are free fields of hashish), Yeghen (Gohars's dealer and supplicant), El Kordi (civil servant who dreams of performing acts of heroism to free his beloved who happens to be a prostitute), Nour El Dine (detective and homosexual who dreams of rising above his life amongst the masses), and many more. Oh, did I mention that there is also a murder? Yes, this novel is entertaining, philosophical, and disturbing all at once. Just read it and see for yourself!
—Ferris
