Love above the plateau of the pyramid

I knew love for the first time in my life. It is like death; you hear about it every now and then, but you only know it if it arrives. It is an overpowering force that devours its prey, strips it of any defense, blurs its mind and perception, and pours madness into its core until it overflows. It is endless torment and joy. Naguib Mahfouz was able to record in many of his works many political and economic transformations and their impact on social life. This short story collection, written by him at the end of the seventies of the last century, included many social changes witnessed by Egyptian society after economic openness and the beginning of the disintegration of the middle class. It shows how money became the highest value in society, while knowledge became a burden on its owner. This situation was reflected in the story "Love above the Pyramids Plateau," which bore the collection's title; it expressed the violent transformations of society through the crisis of "Ali" and "Raja," and the difficulty of their marriage due to poor financial conditions ("Ali"). Among the most wonderful stories in the collection is "The Seventh Heaven," in which Mahfouz smoothly takes us into the world of spirits, enchanting us with his imagination and immersing us in his universe. In addition to others of the stories that expressed various human concerns.