A forgotten person, rare in his way

Author: Al-Tayeb Saleh Publication date: 2026 Book classification: Short stories and novels Publisher: Kalemat Group - UAE Number of pages: 187 Cover type: Paperback Synopsis: - He is Youssef Mansi, an Egyptian man who lived a life of eccentricity and flamboyance. He was neither a writer nor an intellectual in the conventional sense, but he carried an astonishing personality with its humor and its keenness to live in his own way, without restrictions. Youssef was also a friend of Al-Tayeb Saleh, so Al-Tayeb wrote this literary portrait to immortalize the rare human in his own way. The novel follows a person who is at the same time several people, as he is Mansi Youssef Basator, and Michael Joseph, and Ahmed Mansi Youssef the actor, and the translator, and the head of the Egyptian delegation, and a smuggler of goods, and a fighter of Arnold Toiny, and a friend of Samuel Becket. He is married to the granddaughter of Thomas Mura, the man who was born Christian and died Muslim. He lived humbly at one time and a millionaire at another. It is an unconventional biography, full of paradoxes and humor, making Mansi a story about friendship and freedom as much as it is about a man who lived life as he wished, and was immortalized in an unforgettable literary work.