An Expatriate Sang, and the Birds Wept

About this book

El-Sayed Ali Ismail’s literary writings explore the relationship between a writer’s lived experience and the words used to express it. They consider how readers share in a writer’s sadness and joy, and how emotional experience informs the choice of language. Loneliness emerges as a force that leaves its mark on both the inner life and the phrases through which a writer gives it expression.