Taymür felt strongly a need for “Egyptianizing” the literature of his country and creating a school of writing that was uniquely Egyptian. In this quest for realism,Taymür developed a dialogue with his readers in which he encouraged them to nod knowingly with him about the social “types” he presented in his stories while, at the same time, he challenged them to see themselves in much of the pettiness and snobbery his narrator recounted.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 942