The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street; Introduction by Sabry Hafez (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series Book 248)

by Naguib Mahfouz

“What more does any woman want than a home of her own and sexual gratification? Nothing! Women are just another kind of domestic animal, and must be treated like one. Yes, other pets are not allowed to intrude into our private lives. They stay home until we’re free to play with them. For me, being a husband who is faithful to his marriage would be death. One sight, one sound, one taste incessantly repeated and repeated until there’s no difference between motion and inertia. Sound and silence become twins….No, certainly not, that’s not why I got married….If she’s said to have a fair complexion, then does that mean I have no desires for a brown-skinned woman or a black? If she’s said to be pleasingly plump, what consolation will I have for skinny women or huge ones? If she’s refined, from a noble and distinguished family, should I neglect the good qualities of girls whose fathers push carts around in the streets?…Forward…forward.”