Obituary: (1935-2009) Novelist and short story writer died on 7 August, aged 77. Al-Hamamsy's career as a writer is a paradox. A well-known cultural figure, few critics are aware of his novels and short stories. Despite the fact that Al-Hamamsy's works, such as Lil Katakit Agneha (Chicks have wings), Haza Elsawt Walakhroun (This sound and the others) and Beear Al-Ahbash (The Well) were published in several editions by state-owned printing houses they attracted little critical attention. Sayed Hamid Al-Nasag, late professor of Arabic literature at Cairo University, called writers like Al-Hamamsy "the missing link". First published in the sixties, they had to vie for critical attention not only with an earlier generation that included such towering figures as Youssef Idris and Youssef Sharony, but with an emerging generation of powerful new voices such Gamal Al-Ghitani, Ibrahim Aslan, Bahaa Taher and the late Yehya Taher Abdullah. Some of Al-Hamamsy's peers --- Saleh Mursi, Abd Al-Fatah Rizk and Sabri Moussa -- were more fortunate. They were published on the pages in the general interest magazine Sabah El-Kheir, and so were assured of a readership. What their work had in common was a predilection for semi-exotic settings at odds with the emerging sensibility of the new generation, writers whose commitment would be to the local environment, to the city and its suburbs, to dissecting the political and intellectual crises of the Nasser era, and whose narratives would be stripped bare of the romanticism and melodrama that Al-Hamamsy favoured. Though Al-Hamamsy's work was clearly at odds with the prevailing literary trends it does not wholly explain why he failed to attract an audience. There is, too, the question of his complicated relationship with Youssef Al-Sabaie, Minister of Culture from 1971 to 1978, whose star Al-Hamamsy followed. Up until the very last Al-Hamamsy maintained his image as the successor of Al-Sabaie and Tharwat Abaza, despite failing in the Writers' Union's most recent elections. His reputation, finally, would be more as a "union man" than writer. He founded The Story Club and Authors' Association, groups that nominated Al-Hamamsy for a State Incentive Award in 1981, an Arts and Science medal (first class) in 1982 and 1993, and the State Award for Excellence in 2003. Thanks to his strong network of alliances with the state as well as his union activity all the nominations were accepted. His work over the years included founding the review Literary Reflections, which appeared under the imprint of the Book Organisation for Literary Production of Provincial Writers. Al-Hamamsy, who was from Sohag, began his career in film production, working with the producer Adly Al-Mowlid, and in his later years often expressed a desire to base a novel on his early experience working in film. He also published in the magazines Al-Sabah, Al-Alam Al-Araby, Al-Hilal, Al-Zuhur and Al-Qisa and produced several critical studies, among them Aqlam fi Mawkab El-Tanwir (Pens in the parade of enlightenment) and Raheloon fi Wegdani (Travels in my conscience). Perhaps his most popular book was a compilation of interviews published by Dar Al-Hilal and his Conversations on literature, art, and culture, published by Dar Al-Maaref. Sayed Mahmoud
