Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre and Claude Lanzmann on a Nile cruise

Nasser receiving Beauvoir and Sartre at his residence in Heliopolis

Beauvoir at the Cairo Opera House with (front row from left) Heikal, Tawfik El-Hakim, Sartre and Tharwat Okasha

"Towards the end of our stay Nasser received us at his residence in Heliopolis...We talked for three hours, sitting in a large drawing room and drinking fruit juice. Nasser had nothing of the 'white-toothed grin' that some ill-natured photographs gave him: his voice and his expression had a quiet, somewhat melancholy charm. It was said that his friendship for [Heikal] was explained by the contrast between their natures, the one overflowing with jovial vitality, the other uneasy, worried and turned in upon himself"

parent page (20 - 26 March 2008, issue #889)