By Ramadan A. Kader "I never realised before that you were in any way deficient. And this is the first time too I've really felt that you're deaf, that you can't hear. I've lived with you all my life, and I treat you like anybody with all their senses. Clever. Perspective. In fact, cleverer and more perceptive than most people, who can speak and hear. But the whole town knows one thing you don't know, and everyone's happy to watch, as if all of them had their own separate score to settle with you. Is it because you know more about them than you should?" Set in a small town in the Nile Delta "Laylat Aurs" (A Wedding Night) by Egyptian novelist Youssuf Abu Raya (1954-2009) plumbs the social and economic transformations experienced by rural society since the military defeat in the 1967 Middle East Six-Day War, known in Egypt as the naksa, or the setback. The novel has also metaphysical dimensions unravelled by Abu Raya's characteristic style of looking deep beneath the surface. The main protagonist in "Laylat Aurs" is Houda, the deaf and mute apprentice of the town's butcher. Houda, who lives with his brother, in a cramped rooftop room, overcomes his disability by making optimal use of his eyes that capture the most intimate details of neighbours' lives. With his sign language he can lend voice to them, unlock the secrets and expose the wrongdoers. This makes him a revenge target for almost everyone in the town. "He knew the troublemakers, the bribe takers and the illicit relationships – he knew the man who in the heat of the afternoon visited the wife of his friend who was away, and the man who in the dark of the night visited the wife of his friend who was ill." The moment of revenge comes after the wife of his employer claims that Houda has attempted to sexually assault her. The butcher decides to humiliate him in public. He colludes with a self-proclaimed Sufi sheikh to play an elaborate trick on Houda by exploiting his dream for getting married. For Houda, marriage is not only a pursuit of happiness and a legal vent to his inhibited desires, but a way of self-fulfillment and independence as well. The butcher and the sheikh arrange with an effeminate entertainer to play the role of Houda's putative bride. Everyone in the town including Houda's brother knows about the ploy except for the victim. The whole town eagerly waits for the fake wedding in order to publicly make fun of the mute-deaf whistle blower. Houda learns about the prank at the last minute when an admiring neighbour reveals to him the public secret. He disappears from the town, dealing a humiliating blow to the pranksters. Published in 2002, "Laylat Aurs" provides a panoramic and detailed view of the rural life and its changes. It is populated by motley of characters, who are mostly downtrodden. The novel gives an insight into the agonies and aspirations of the marginalised, who toil hard in order to eke out their living. It, moreover, illustrates the impact of changing times on some tradesmen such as tailors, water wheelwrights and ironsmiths. Leafing through "Laylat Aurs", the reader feels it like a well-crafted movie owing to Abu Raya's skilful attention to details and admirable ability to interweave them. The situation at the centre of the work could have been reduced to a perfect short story – a genre where Abu Raya also excelled. However, the suspense and in-depth approach employed by the author makes the story a well-acclaimed novel. "Laylat Aurs" won the 2005 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature awarded by the American University in Cairo (AUC). The novel also appeared in an English version titled "Wedding Night" masterfully translated by R. Neil Hewison and published by the AUC Press. In its citation, the jury described "Laylat Aurs" as "the rural counterpart to Mahfouz's critical dissection of the urban world".
