Novel
Laziness in the Fertile Valley
Les Fainéants dans la vallée fertile
Albert Cossery · 1948
Synopsis
In an Egyptian house, old Hafez and his sons have made sleep their great business: Galal hardly ever leaves his bed, Rafik jealously guards his rest, and Uncle Mustapha and the servant Hoda complete the household. Only the youngest, Serag, has got it into his head to work, he who has never seen a man work; he dreams, according to The Complete Review, of a job at the factory. The father, for his part, wants to remarry. These two plans threaten the peace of the house, and the family sets about thwarting them.
Context
The novel was published in Paris by Domat in 1948. Publishers Weekly reads in it an idleness that becomes a revolt against labour, when exhausting work is the only way out of poverty. William Goyen translated it into English in the early 1950s (1953, or 1952 according to The Complete Review), and New Directions reissued it in 2013, with a preface by Henry Miller. The author made a three-act comedy from it, published in 2004, and Joëlle Losfeld, who republished all his work from 1988, brought out a reissue in 1996.
Who it is for
A novel in French, often reprinted, from Robert Laffont to Gallimard and Joëlle Losfeld, and also readable in English.
Prizes and reception
A book of absurd and seductive languor, judges The Complete Review, though its portrait of women works against it.
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