As interesting as his self-conscious discussion of art in Egypt was, when it came to the Sudanese Taymür himself remained caught in representa- tional clichés that defied his own pleas for realism. If Egyptians, at that point in their cultural history, were amusing imitators of Europe, then the Sudan- ese remained, for Taymür, humorous diversions for Egyptians. Sudanese characters almost always appear as servants in Taymür's written work. In the first play he wrote in colloquial Arabic, Al-`usfür fi al-qafas (The Sparrow in the Cage), the Sudanese eunuch Fayrüz Agha injects an element of comedy in this otherwise tragic story of a wealthy Egyptian family.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 950