The Origin of Species

In this acclaimed novel shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), author Ahmed Abdel Latif constructs a surreal narrative set between Cairo’s El-Manial neighborhood and the City of the Dead. The story unfolds in a post-human landscape where characters undergo terrifying bodily transformations—a civil engineer tasked with demolishing cemeteries gradually loses his body hair, while a police informant loses his fingers. Through dark comedy and Kafkaesque symbolism, the novel examines the clash between individual memory, human affection, and state-driven urban modernization. Written in precise, evocative Arabic prose, it offers a stark critique of how spatial erasing strips humanity of its identity and emotions.

It delivers a high-caliber philosophical and literary reading experience, skillfully blending surrealism with social commentary to interrogate identity, authority, and urban transformations.

Ideal for admirers of philosophical fiction, Kafkaesque transformation tales, contemporary Arabic literature, and stories dealing with spatial identity and existential memory.