Early in Proud Beggars, a brutal and motiveless murder is committed in a Cairo brothel. But the real mystery at the heart of Albert Cossery’s wry black comedy is not the cause of this death but the paradoxical richness to be found in even the most materially impoverished life. Chief among Cossery’s proud beggars is Gohar, a former professor turned whorehouse accountant, hashish aficionado, and street philosopher. Such is his native charm that he has accumulated a small coterie that includes Yeghen, a rhapsodic poet and drug dealer, and El Kordi, an ineffectual clerk and would-be revolutionary who dreams of rescuing a consumptive prostitute. The police investigator Nour El Dine, harboring a dark secret of his own, suspects all three of the murder but finds himself captivated by their warm good humor. How is it that they live amid degrading poverty, yet possess a joie de vivre that even the most assiduous forces of state cannot suppress? Do they, despite their rejection of social norms and all ambition, hold the secret of contentment? And so this short novel, considered one of Cossery’s masterpieces, is at once biting social commentary, police procedural, and a mischievous delight in its own right.
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Albert Cossery
Albert Cossery foi um escritor egípcio em língua francesa. Nascido no Cairo, descendente de uma família Libanesa e Síria grega ortodoxa, radicou-se em Paris. Considerado um mestre do escárnio, Albert foi também um profeta do prazer e da preguiça. Desde 1951 habitava o mesmo quarto do hotel La Louisiane situado no coração de Saint-Germain-des-Prés em Paris. Foi amigo de escritores como Boris Vian, Jean Genet, Henry Miller e Albert Camus, sendo admirado por todos eles. Em 1990, Cossery foi homenageado com o Grand Prix de la francophonie de l’Académie française e, em 2005, com o Grand Prix Poncetton de la Société des gens de lettres.
9 Livros
8 Seguidores
Cairo, Egito