The Days: His Autobiography in Three Parts

Like Helen Keller, Taha Hussain overcame the challenges of his blindness to be an inspiration to everyone who knew him. Born in 1889 in a small village in Egypt, the 7th of 13 children, and blinded in his early childhood by a mistake of the local barber (and village surgeon!), one would expect Taha Hussein to become just another statistic. Instead, his brilliant mind led him to receive the highest levels of education in Egypt, followed by a PhD from the Sorbonne University in France, and achieve wide recognition and honors as a writer, faculty member, dean, minister of education, and a Nobel prize nominee in literature. There are few human beings who overcome adversity of such magnitude. Taha Hussein's autobiography is unique and sometimes controversial, but certainly an inspiration to anyone who reads it. This edition, which includes all 3 parts of his biography now joined in one book, is well worth it and a must read.

A must for those who like arab literature. It is an autobiographical text of one of the most important Egyptian writers of the 20th century, who was blind and managed to succeed in his studies and his carreer. He was the first Egyptian to be granted a PhD from France and the founder of the Faculty of Greek and Latin Philosophy at the University of Cairo. The text itself is at some parts sad, at others funny, at others full of agony for the future... All these written with the unique style of Taha Hussein. I recommend it!

Depth and strength are only few of what I learned from reading theses books. A story of real life worth the respect and honour!

Easy poetic English and great printing. Arrived on time. fair price. If you are looking for a good example about love and success, this book is great for you.

I personally believe Taha Hussein would have been a better candidate for the Nobel Prize than Naguib Mahfouz. He better defined Arabic-Egyptian literature than Mahfouz, who was really more of a popular writer in the extreme realist vein, not really sufficiently pushing any new boundaries in the genre. It is a pity that we only have Hussein's acclaimed autobiography in English. His famous novels should also be translated as well his pamphlets on Egyptian culture. Still, this is an extremely important work of modern Arabic prose and it is a delight that we have it in English so that Western readers may know and appreciate the "dean of Arabic Letters".

This is a must read for those interested in Egypt and Egyptian culture. It is an absolute classic, wonderfully written and well translated. The story of a poor blind boy with incomparable talent and motivation, It is also a beautiful love story, cross cultural marriage, conflict between civilizations and the push and pull between the sacred and the secular. Taha Hussien rose from very poor and humble origin to the heights of Egyptian society. Each of the three parts of this book was translated by a different person, as a result it takes a bit of time to get adjusted to the new style as well as a new phase of the life of Taha Hussien. The first part of the book, specially with the third person style can get a bit tedious but if you perceiver through that you will get the double reward of enjoying the book and learning more about this truly unique man.

Classic autobiography of an intellectual giant of the 20th century, finally available in full in English

Mich beeindruckt der außergewöhnliche Lebenslauf des Autors und seine hohe Erzählkunst.

The story of the Egyptian, totally blind writer since the age of 3, with a PhD from the Sorbonne. He became the Minister of Education in Egypt 1951. His story is a must read. His wife, Suzanne Bresseua wrote "Avec Toi", about her life with him.

This is an English translation of three books written by Taha Hussain at different stages in his life. The first book is about his upbringing after turning blind in his early childhood. Among other things, it reflects on life in a modest family in upper Egypt, describes his determination to overcome his handicap and conveys his attachment to the religion of Islam. The translation is clear and enjoyable. It managed to overcome problems with the Arabic idioms and quotations. The second book is about his experience in learning at Al-Azhar, his struggle to learn and to survive in Cairo. Eventually his thoughts and opinion about learning at Al-Azhar and its Sheiks and faculty. His revolt against Al-Azhar caused him lots of agonies. Then his aspiration to receive real learning in an institute that respects differences in opinion and freedom of speech. The translator did a great job in explaining in the difficult Arabic idioms, quotations, and concepts. I really admire the capability of the translator. The third book is about his university experience and achievement of a higher level of education, his difficulty getting accepted to travel to France on a scholarship, his difficulties over there and meeting his life partner who had a different culture and different religion. It seems to me, though not bluntly stated in the book, that he accepted Christianity. The three books reflect on the political views of Egyptians at the beginning of the 1900's to the mid-century. The translator ignored to explain Arabic idioms, concepts, and expressions, which made reading this book more difficult and sometimes obscure and the book contains many typos. I enjoyed reading the three books and highly recommend them.