The Gospel According to Adam
Encyclopedia
The Gospel According To Adam is a 2006 novel
by Muhammad Aladdin
, and has been published by Merit Publications in Egypt
. It is his first novel followed by The Twenty-Second Day
in 2007.
(b. 1979). He has published short comic books for teenagers and a collection of short stories (The Other Bank 2003), while excerpts from his first, unpublished, novel The Twenty-Second Day appeared in Akhbar al-Adab in 2004, his first unpublished --as well-- novel Al Dawa'er winning the Cultural Palaces prize 2004. The Gospel according to Adam breaks the conventional format of the novel, consisting as it does of a single 60-page-long paragraph that, like all good streams of consciousness, sweeps writer and reader on to no pre-ordained or predictable destination. As a reviewer for Al-Ahram
’s literary page ( May 10, 2006) puts it, The Gospel according to Adam reflects “a social reality that has lost all certainties.” In keeping with other novels (such as Ahmed Alaidy's Being Abbas el Abd) of an emerging new school of writing in Cairo
, the work is the funny and taboo-breaking product of a young writer without preconceptions of what makes a novel or how one should be written and who has been hailed by writers such as Baha Tahir and Sonallah Ibrahim
as among the best of a promising new crop.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Muhammad Aladdin
Muhammad Aladdin
Muhammad Aladdin, also known as Alaa Eddin is an Egyptian novelist, short story writer, and script writer. Aladdin has gained acclamation for his first novel published The Gospel According to Adam in January 2006...
, and has been published by Merit Publications in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. It is his first novel followed by The Twenty-Second Day
The Twenty-Second Day
The Twenty-Second Day is a 2007 novel by Muhammad Aladdin, and has been published by Publishing House in Egypt.-Plot introduction:A young man, a pianist who hates piano, goes into a stormy relationship with a divorced woman who's older than he is for ten years...
in 2007.
Plot introduction
A young man walks a scorching Cairo street. At the entrance to the city’s pivotal main square, he notices a succulent girl. Ineluctably drawn into her magnetic field, and the swirling, palpitating square ahead, he starts to fantasize about how he would talk to her, seduce her, rape her, love her, abandon her, cherish her were he, for example, a Brazen Rake, a Brutal Bohemian, a Sensitive Painter, or a Bald Mechanic, jumping from persona to persona as his imaginings become more and more feverish, while in his mind the girl goes through a similar series of transformations. These characters—a circus parade of Egypt’s contemporary human menagerie—are not, however, mere dress-up costumes to be donned and discarded at their author’s whim. They, and others who emerge from the side alleys of his mind, strut their stuff, accost one another, argue, and shout until eventually they leave him, on a scorching Cairo street, peering after an infinite succession of receding, parallel clamorous worlds, from whose possibilities he must draw his own conclusions.Literary significance & criticism
The author, Muhammad AladdinMuhammad Aladdin
Muhammad Aladdin, also known as Alaa Eddin is an Egyptian novelist, short story writer, and script writer. Aladdin has gained acclamation for his first novel published The Gospel According to Adam in January 2006...
(b. 1979). He has published short comic books for teenagers and a collection of short stories (The Other Bank 2003), while excerpts from his first, unpublished, novel The Twenty-Second Day appeared in Akhbar al-Adab in 2004, his first unpublished --as well-- novel Al Dawa'er winning the Cultural Palaces prize 2004. The Gospel according to Adam breaks the conventional format of the novel, consisting as it does of a single 60-page-long paragraph that, like all good streams of consciousness, sweeps writer and reader on to no pre-ordained or predictable destination. As a reviewer for Al-Ahram
Al-Ahram
Al-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
’s literary page ( May 10, 2006) puts it, The Gospel according to Adam reflects “a social reality that has lost all certainties.” In keeping with other novels (such as Ahmed Alaidy's Being Abbas el Abd) of an emerging new school of writing in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, the work is the funny and taboo-breaking product of a young writer without preconceptions of what makes a novel or how one should be written and who has been hailed by writers such as Baha Tahir and Sonallah Ibrahim
Sonallah Ibrahim
Son'allah Ibrahim is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer and one of the "Sixties Generation" who is known for his leftist and nationalist views which are expressed rather directly in his work...
as among the best of a promising new crop.