The Lamp of Umm Hashim

By Yahya Hakki

In this volume of stories Yahya Hakki, who explored genres of creative writing new to the traditions of classical Arabic, demonstrates his ease with gentle humour and describes with typical sympathy individuals who somehow manage to scrape through life’s hardships. The title story, “The Lamp of Umm Hashim,” was the first of several works in Arabic to deal with coming to terms with divergent cultures.