Diary of a Country Prosecutor

1920s Cairo. A young and ambitious prosecutor is dispatched from the bustling city to a provincial village to investigate a serious crime. Armed with his European education, the prosecutor is confident that he will dispense justice in this rural outpost. But he finds himself increasingly befuddled by an alien legal system and the clueless bureaucrats who enforce it. As he teases out the facts of the case only one thing becomes clear: justice is never as simple as it seems. First published in 1937, this classic by one of the Arab world's leading dramatists has lost none of its bite.

Tawfik al-Hakim (1898-1987) was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He studied law in Paris before returning to Egypt, where he worked for a time as a Public Prosecutor in a small provincial town. A prolific writer, Al-Hakim wrote many plays, several volumes of short stories and essays, three novels and a memoir. His first novel, The Return of the Spirit (1933), captured the Arab mood of national awakening and won its author immediate acclaim. Diary of a Country Prosecutor, first published as Maze of Justice, was his second novel. Known as the father of modern Arab theatre, al-Hakim was an innovative playwright who influenced a generation of Arab dramatists. His writings explore philosophical and religious issues and deal with social questions, such as the position of women, the individual's quest for freedom within society, and the pursuit of happiness in a world scarred by war, disease and poverty. He died in Cairo on 26 July 1987.