An international bestseller, 'The Yacoubian Building' is a mesmerising and controversial novel that is at once an impasssioned celebration and a ruthless dissection of a society dominated by bribery and corruption. The Yacoubian Building -- once grand, but now dilapidated -- stands on one of Cairo's main boulevards. Taha, the doorman's son, has aspirations beyond the slum in the skies, and dreams of one day becoming a policeman. He studies hard, and passes all the exams, but when he is rejected because his family is neither rich nor influential, the bitterness sets in. His girlfriend, Busayna, finds herself unable to earn a living without also providing sexual services for the men who hire her. When Taha seeks solace in a student Islamic organisation, the pressure mounts, and he is drawn to actions with devastating consequences. 'The Yacoubian Building' follows Taha's trajectory from innocence to tragedy. The people whose lives orbit his -- the inhabitants of the building -- are also facing their own difficult choices. From those living in squalid and cramped conditions on the rooftops, to the homosexual editor of Le Caire newspaper and a womanising aristocrat, all of the contradictions in Egyptian society are here. Religious feelings live side by side with promiscuity; bribery and exploitation alternate with moments of joy and elation; modernity clashes with the vision of a more ancient society. Alaa Al Aswany's mesmerising novel caused an unprecedented stir when it was published in Egypt. It is at once an impassioned celebration and a ruthless dissection of a society dominated by bribery and corruption.

亞拉．阿斯萬尼Alaa Al Aswany

1957年生於埃及,目前在開羅市中心擔任執業牙醫,《亞庫班公寓》是阿斯萬尼的第一本小說,2002年出版以來全球銷量超越100萬冊,作者因為本書躋身阿拉伯世界最暢銷作家之列,受邀至各地參加無數的書展和演講。

「亞庫班公寓」真實存在於開羅市中心,它也是阿斯萬尼第一間開業診所所在地,本書可謂一本極具寫實色彩的「地方小說」,人物和所處地方有著十分緊密的連動關係。阿斯萬尼從瞥見美國大使館某一棟破舊房屋的縱切面,以及尋找診所地點的經驗中得到繆斯,認為這些建築物表徵了開羅某一段年代,當時候的埃及人表現出開放與兼容並包的精神,一直到八０年代政權易主為止。

在埃及,阿斯萬尼是繼諾貝爾文學獎馬福茲（Naguib Mahfouz, 1911-2006）之後最受歡迎的作家。他喜愛接觸人群,開業的牙醫診所恰恰滋養了他的創作。他說：「文學是一種表述人性之愛的形式。」而且,「當人們牙疼的時候,需要的是一位牙醫,而不是作家。」

2007年阿斯萬尼第二本小說《芝加哥》阿拉伯、英、法語版先後出版,成為他第二本暢銷書。每天看診之餘,他在音樂的陪伴下花三個小時寫作,他只聆聽Edith Piaf（法國）和Oum Kalthoum（埃及）兩位女歌手的歌曲。