Salah GARMADI

While I have no doubt about the readers' being "instructed" by these texts, some doubt I do have about they being "entertained". I am afraid they will disturb and discomfort him, they not belonging to the literature of entertainment. They will confront him with truths that, perhaps, he would rather forget so as to live in peace with himself. Such truths as emerge from "The shoeshine", in which the character of the shoeshine is, in his revolt, a threat to the regime. Just think of this nightmarish story in the light of "black January" and the "bread day" Whether you are with or against the shoeshine, you are obliged to take a stand, neither ignorance nor indifference being possible here. And when you read "Night scenes", if you happen to be one of those inhabitants of "Paradise street", you will be forcibly drawn to putting your nose into your refuse and to the realisation that if you eat "to your belly's content" and be grateful to God for that, there are people who feed on your rubbish. How after that will you feel safe from the revolt of the rubbish eaters, after the revolt of the shoeshine? Just ponder upon what one of the Prophet's companions said, that he wondered how a starved man does not attack people with his sword