The Return of the Spirit

The Return of the Spirit, also known as The Soul Return, is a novel by the Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim. He finished writing it in 1927 while a student in France, and published it in 1933. The book grew out of a set of literary and political influences that shaped writers of al-Hakim's generation in Egypt between the two world wars. Among them, the 1919 revolution was especially important: it represented the triumph of the national idea in politics and gave thinkers hope of achieving an Egyptian character.

The story follows Mohsen, who leaves Damanhur, where his wealthy family lives, to enrol in a school in Cairo. He lives a simple life with his three uncles and an aunt who looks after them after missing her chance to marry. All the men fall in love with their neighbour Suniyah, a modern girl who plays the piano, but she disappoints them all by falling in love with Mustafa, a well-off young man who leaves the shop he inherited from his father in Kafr El Zayat and comes to Cairo looking for work. Aunt Zanouba, who dreams of marrying Mustafa, turns to magic to win his heart, but fails. The 1919 revolution erupts with the return of Saad Zaghloul and his comrades, who had been exiled, and Mohsen, his uncles and their servants join the demonstrations. The novel begins with all of them sick in bed in one room and ends with them in a prison cell and a hospital room.