Taha Husain & His Work al-Ayyam

Abstract

When we consider the movement of modern Arabic literature, the name of Taha Husain comes to our mind. None can doubt the importance of his role; indeed some say that, but for Taha Husain, the renaissance of literature in Egypt would not have reached its present level. Through his works and the wide and various fields of his activities, we would like to discover what he has thought in the confused state at the beginning of the 20th century and how he has expressed his thoughts.
Then we refer to the judgement of several people about Taha Husain to make our conception of his image more accurate.
al-Ayyam is regarded as the most significant among his numerous works to help us in this purpose. Taha Husain's biographical novel, al-Ayyam depicts an Egyptian boy's inner experience. This work is recognized as one of the most distinguished novels in modern Egypt. We shall try to catch the flavour of this work from the literary point of view.