Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006)

Post date: Nov 16, 2011 2:18:08 PM

"The Arab world also won the Nobel with me. I believe that international doors have opened, and that from now on, literate people will consider Arab literature also. We deserve that recognition." - Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz was born into a middle class family with 6 children, in an area of Cairo called al-Gamaliyya. He lived most of his life in a modest apartment overlooking the Nile and died in a hospital at the age of 95.

A graduate in philosophy from Cairo University, Mahfouz began his writing career back when he was 17. His first novel "Ironies of Fate" was published while he was an employee at the Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments). His fruitful career produced over thirty novels, as well as screenplays, short stories and articles, as well as columns for the local newspaper Al-Ahram (The Pyramids). His early novels examine the history of ancient Egypt and borne out of Mahfouz's determined exploration of his country's identity and from that, his own.

"I am the son of two civilizations that at a certain age in history have formed a happy marriage. The first of these, seven thousand years old, is the Pharaonic civilization; the second, one thousand four hundred years old, is the Islamic civilization." - Naguib Mahfouz    

Despite having never left Egypt, not even to receive his Nobel Prize, Mahfouz is renowned internationally. Many of his novels were translated into various languages and some of his works were turned into films that enriched the local film industry with many famous titles, such as "Miramar", "Adrift on the Nile", "Midaq Alley" and "The Beginning and the End." His masterpiece is considered to be the Cairo Trilogy, which consists of "Palace Walk", "Palace of Desire" and "Sugar Street". They were written in the mid 50’s and depict the struggle of 3 generations of an Egyptian family against an ominous dictator.

Mahfouz's main focus was on social and political phenomena in Egypt and many of his writings draw attention to contemporary issues. The main question he addressed was what the leaders of Egypt, whether pharaohs, sultans, khedives, kings, presidents, invaders, or occupiers have done to and for his country. In 1983, Mahfouz brought together all of Egypt's rulers from the founder of the country, Menes, to the Pharoah Narmer who united Upper and Lower Egypt 5,000 years ago, up to and including President Sadat in, "Before the Throne." In this gripping novel, Osiris, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, heads a court in which Egypt's rulers are interrogated and judged.  

Until his final days, Mahfouz frequented Cairo's cafés to engage in literary discussions with artists, writers and thinkers from younger generations. He perceived them all as being 'young and bright', but only time will tell whether there lies among them another Mahfouz with similar levels of creativity as the man who was known as, "not only a Hugo and a Dickens, but also a Galsworthy, a Mann, a Zola and a Jules Romains." - Edward Said.