Citation

Author

Yusuf Idris one of the great short story writers, and one of the premier socialist realists in Egyptian literature. 

Context

Published in 54 after the revolution. 

Summary 

The Cheapest Nights - guy drinks tea and wants to party but goes home to his wife instead.
You are everything to me - dude runs around frantically because he can't get it up.
The Errand - guy has to take his "crazy" (maybe actually retarded) sister into Cairo to see the doctor, feels  shame when he ditches her.
Hard up - dude sells his blood to survive, becomes anemic.
The Queue - best story, the origin of a strange interruption in a fence. The power of the pesky masses.
All on a summer's night - dude lies about sleeping with a lady in Mansoura, gets beat up.  

Characters

Themes

the difficulty of rural life. 
you could write a whole article about the affective disgust at rural peasants and poverty as affect. 

Notes

an amazingly human, rich, funny collection of short stories. I just don't understand why socialist realism has been painted as flat or dry. Also, the stories largely center on village life and take the subaltern as subject.   

Quotes