New York 80 (1980?)

Abstract

He: Excuse me madam, by the way, is this the right way to talk to women? Or should I say “Ma’am”?

Yusuf Idris was the most famous short story writer and playwright in Egypt. His collections of short stories and plays depict the plight of the underprivileged and the conflict between individuals and societal pressures. His Cheapest of Nights (1954), City Dregs (1957), and The Stooges (1964) are among his best works and they have been translated into several foreign languages including English, French, and Russian. His New York 80, excerpted here, is a fictionalized encounter with an American “call girl,” based on his actual visit to the United States in the early 1980s. New York 80 is a telling description of Arab attitudes toward America by one of the most famous Arab writers. Idris died in 1991.