Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography

Qindīl Umm Hāšim, ‘The Lamp of Umm Hāšim’, is the title of Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī’s collection of short stories, first published in 1944, that made the author famous. Its enormous success can be traced back to the novella of the same title that opens the collection. The novella, due to its themes and narrative form, perfectly synthesizes the nationalistic spirit and modern ideals that developed in the 1920s around the al-madrasa al-ḥadīṯa movement, ‘The Modern School’, and ranks among the classics of mo...