Kamil Ru'ba is a tortured soul who hopes that writing the story of his life will help him gain control of it. Raised by a mother who fled her abusive husband and became overbearingly possessive toward her young son, Kamil has now been left by her death to cope by himself for the first time. Though in his twenties, he has been isolated emotionally and physically from the world and finds it difficult to take a single step without her guidance. Recognizing that his mother's love was "a kind of affection that destroys," he seeks to escape its posthumous grasp. Finding and successfully pursuing the woman of his dreams is a challenge that initially seems to promise salvation, until his ignorance of mature love and his fear and jealousy lead to tragedy. First published in Egypt in 1948, and never before translated into English, The Mirage is a stunning example of Mahfouz's psychological portraiture. Translated by Nancy Roberts. A stunning example of Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's psychological portraiture, The Mirage is the story of an intense young man who has been so dominated by his mother that her death sets him dangerously adrift in a world he cannot manage alone. Kamil Ru'ba is a tortured soul who hopes that writing the story of his life will help him gain control of it. Raised by a mother who fled her abusive husband and became overbearingly possessive and protective toward her young son, he has long been isolated emotionally and physically. Now in his twenties, Kamil seeks to escape her posthumous grasp. Finding and successfully courting the woman of his dreams seems to promise salvation, until his ignorance of mature love and his fear and jealousy lead to tragedy.