Tawfik al-Hakim’s “Favorites” includes the most significant, and already known to the Russian reader, works of the greatest modern Egyptian prose writer and playwright - the novel “Return of the Spirit” (1933) and the story “Notes of a Provincial Investigator” (1937), and also the previously untranslated comic play “Dear Khaskhas” (1972). The publication is intended for readers interested in the modern culture of Eastern countries.