Captain Ni'mat's Last Battle
A Novel
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
First published after the author’s death in 2008, this provocative novel charts the late-in-life sexual awakening of a retired air force pilot who begins a dangerous affair with a male servant.
Captain Ni’mat, a reservist from the Egyptian army defeated by the Israelis in 1967, finds himself aging and idle, spending his days at a luxurious private club in Cairo with former comrades. One night, Captain Ni’mat has an exquisite, chilling dream: he sees pure beauty in the form of his Nubian valet. Awakened by these searing images, he slips into the hut where the young man sleeps. The vision of his naked body so deeply disturbs Captain Ni’mat that his monotonous existence is suddenly turned upside down.
Unbeknownst to his wife, he comes to know physical love with his valet. In a country where religious fundamentalism grows increasingly prevalent every day, this forbidden passion will lead him to the height of happiness, at least for a time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An unexpected sensual awakening lies at the center of this alluring English-language debut from late Moroccan critic and novelist Leftah (1946–2008). With his military career cut short by a failed 1967 expedition to Yemen many years earlier, Captain Ni'mat plods through a comfortable retirement in Cairo with his wife, Mervet. Daily swims at the pool represent a welcome escape from his idleness, though he's disturbed by the dreams he has about the supple young men who dart around him there. Is his recognition of male beauty the work of Satan? Curiosity and desire prompt him to further explore. Under the hands of his young Nubian houseboy Islam, who obeys orders without protest, the captain crosses an erotic line, then another, and another. Far from scared off, Ni'mat dives deeper into erotic exploration with Islam, despite his society's deep homophobia, and even engages in a tryst at the pool with a middle-aged man. Inevitably, this secret activity leaks out to Mervet, who doesn't abandon her husband, but banishes Islam and demands separate bedrooms. Leftah's measured prose draws out the characters' emotions without indulging too much in erotica. The result is graphic and sensuous without being prurient, and a piquant exploration of masculinity, gender, societal taboos, and the nature of love.
