Abstract

The novel depicts distinct episodes that are based on actual people and incidents. The story stands in contrast to the real-life accounts that focuses on an unnamed Egyptian journalist who leaves his country and settles in the west, where he meets Brigitte, an Austrian tour guide whose story gradually becomes intertwined with his. Both seem to be loving and compassionate, and this relationship comes to serve as a means to juxtapose various notions of East and West relations, identity; ending up with untold feelings and sorrow. The study simply delves into how the translator was accurate in transferring the author's attempt of the price one has to pay for masking his inner thoughts and being silenced out of fear of being misunderstood.