In a work collectively called Muhakima mu´alifï al-riwaya al-tamthïlïya (translated by M. M. Badawi as Dialogue of the Dead), Taymür expressed the cultural ambivalence of Egyptian writers, adding another element to the debate about cultural self- representation. These pieces take place as a dream of the narrator, in which artists both dead and alive gather in the hall of Dar al-Opera al-Sultaniyya. The occasion is a trial in which the artistic ability of contemporary and well- known playwrights is to be judged by classical, canonical writers, all mem- bers of Muhammad Taymür's personal pantheon: Shakespeare, Molière, Corneille, Racine, Edmond Roustand, and Goethe.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 946