THE THIEF AND THE DOGS

This is the simple translation of the novel ‘Al Liss Wal Kilaab’ written by the Nobel laureate and great novelist, Naguib Mahfouz. He is one of the very few innovators in the field of Arabic novels and the leading literary figure, not only in Egypt but in the entire Arab World. This novel, first published in 1961, is one of Naguib Mahfouz's finest works. It is extraordinary as it was the first novel to employ the Western stream of consciousness technique in Arabic writings. Naguib Mahfouz sets out not to write a murderer’s story but to write the story of a man in search of his identity, a man who attempts to impose meaning on a chaotic world but whose bullets ironically miss their target and lead to further chaos.