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1 Chapter 1 : MAHFOUZ, Naguib (Abdel Aziz al-sabilgi) (LITERATURE) Get Textbooks on Google Play. Rent and save from the world's largest ebookstore. Read, highlight, and take notes, across web, tablet, and phone. With the death of Naguib Mahfouz on 30 August, there has passed from the international scene one of the most gifted, courageous and dedicated literary figures of the past century. Although he never travelled to the western hemisphere or Europe he was far from provincial in his outlook or his impact. The influence of his writings and of his personality on Arabic literature and thought â and, through translation, on the world at large â far exceeds that of any of his contemporaries of the city and land of his birth, Cairo in Egypt. Naguib Mahfouz was born in 14 December, the youngest of many siblings in an undistinguished middle-class Muslim family. His earliest vital memories, as many of his works testify, were of demonstrations, street warfare and the repression of nationalist sentiment. But this was also the age of the emergence of political parties and a free press in Egypt, and of the nationalist Mustapha Kamil, whose oratorical genius and tragic early death inspired a generation of young Egyptians of both sexes. Also on Naguib Mahfouz in opendemocracy: He also published in this period three historical novels dealing with political and military palace intrigues set in ancient Egypt. In the s Mahfouz turned his attention to the contemporary realist novel, though these works too gained him little initial recognition. It was not until the publication of Al-thulathiyya which became known as The Cairo Trilogy that he won enthusiastic praise from the critical establishment in both Egypt and the wider Arab world. This fine series of novels, published in and translated into English as Palace Walk, Palace of Desire and Sugar Street, traced the successive generations of a Cairo middle-class merchant family in the years following the first world war up to the military revolution that overthrew the Egyptian monarchy and brought Gamal Abdel Nasser to power. The works, with their panorama of the turbulent revolutionary social, economic and religious changes of the first half of the 20th century, resonated with readers all over the middle east who recognised the relevance of the Egyptian experience to their own societies. Interest centred particularly on his Zuqaq al-midaqq Midaq Alley, a work of fine subtle irony and humour, filled with dramatic events and a full cast of larger-than-life Dickensian characters. Dealing in part with prostitution, homosexuality and the reduced status of Islam in local urban environments, this novel enables the reader to gain unequalled insight into the values of the society of the time. By the late s, therefore, Mahfouz was established as a major Egyptian intellectual whose works were being read and viewed, in their filmed versions throughout the Arab world. Several years after this conversation, and following its initial translation into English, the text did appear briefly in Arabic in Cairo bookshops; though it should be noted that this major work of Mahfouz has since then not been available for purchase in Egypt. When I later reminded him of our conversation on the subject, Mahfouz roared with laughter, as he often did when gaining time to respond to a difficult question, before insisting that the Lebanese publisher had not paid him any royalty nor sought his permission for book publication. Yet it was this work that most convinced the committee to award him the Nobel prize for literature, in ; it too was the stated justification for the assassination attempt made against him in following a public condemnation of him for apostasy issued by the blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. By then Mahfouz had honed his skills and was writing with economy, subtlety and precision; he was one of the first to employ the "stream of consciousness" technique in Arabic. Mahfouz read very broadly in international literature and experimented with writing plays and short stories but received only minor praise and attention for these often difficult and enigmatic works. A family man with a devoted wife and two talented, well-educated daughters, Naguib Mahfouz embodied rational and liberal values which he maintained consistently, even into our current age of polarisation and intercommunal violence. Gregarious and open-minded, a man who inspired affection as well as admiration, he will be sorely missed from the Egyptian and world stages. We encourage anyone to comment, please consult the. Page 1

2 Chapter 2 : Half a Day Resources Enter your mobile number or address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Gamaliya, Cairo, Egypt, 11 December Educated at the University of Cairo,, degree in philosophy, postgraduate study Secretary, University of Cairo, ; journalist: Egyptian state prize, ; National prize for letters, ; Collar of the Republic Egypt, ; Nobel prize for literature, Publications Hams al-junun [The Whisper of Madness]. Khan al-khalili [Khalili Market]. Al-Qahira al-jadida [New Cairo]. Al-thulathiya [The Cairo Trilogy]: Hutchins and Olive E. Kenny, and Olive E. Hutchins and Angele Botros Samaan, Badawi, revised by John Rodenbeck, Dunya Allah [The World of God]. Khammarat al-qitt al-aswad [The Black Cat Tavern]. Taht al-midhalla [Under the Awning]. Hikaya bi-la bidaya wa-la nihaya [A Story without Beginning or End]. Al-hubb tahta al-matar [Love in the Rain]. Qalb al-layl [In the Heart of the Night]. Malhamat at harafish [The Epic of the Riff-Raff]. Layali alf laylah [A Thousand and One Nights]. Al-tandhim al-sirri [The Secret Organization]. Sabah al-ward [Good Morning]. Dweller in Truth, translated by Tagreid Abu-Hassabo. A Collection of Critical Essays edited by M. Mikhail, ; Naguib Mahfouz: Crowned with the Nobel prize for literature, Naguib Mahfouz reigns over 20th-century Arabic prose literature like an influential but unassuming constitutional monarch. The current success of translations of his works in many languages is unprecedented for a modern Arab author. His novels and collections of short stories portray different strata and aspects of Egyptian society, most frequently those of contemporary Cairo, although four are pharaonic novels. It is a massive but intimate account of the emotional and intellectual development from childhood to maturity of the hero, Kamal, and of the adventures of his parents, siblings, andâ in the third volumeâ his nephews and nieces. Part of the fascination of the Trilogy is the mirror that the fortunes and misfortunes of this family provide for those of Egypt as a whole during the period from to He has chronicled the full range of human possibilities, including the most sexually confused for example in Al-sarab [Mirage] or corruptly degraded, in a sympathetic way that does not seem judgemental. If Mahfouz has a typical villain, it is time. Mahfouz is an author who may weep at the tragedies of his characters without once moderating the blows he administers to them on behalf of fate. Although his works are often flavoured with a melancholy pessimism, there is usually a life-affirming thread in the fabric. Novels by Mahfouz frequently depict the comic or pathetic attempts of human beings to make sense of those fleeting moments of consciousness that constitute our allotment of the pulsing surge of evolutionary life. Traditional conservatism and revolutionary experiments are merely rival extremes in an endless dialectic that presses humanity toward a tantalizing but unreachable synthesis. Paternalism, no matter how affectionate and benevolent, is doomed to tragic failure, but so too is liberalism, understood as surrender to sensual or intellectual appetites. An autobiographical author, Mahfouz tends to identify not with any one character, except perhaps Kamal, but with the sum of all character traits presented. Trained as a philosopher, he has allowed his heroes to brood about deep questions, without forgetting that the job of an author is to tell stories. Besides the Cairo Trilogy, several other works by Mahfouz have acquired many fans. In Miramar, thought by some to be his best work, residents of a pension that has seen better days reveal their outlook and backgrounds as they react to a beautiful woman who joins the staff. Zuqaq al-midaqq Midaq Alley, a racy slice of working-class life in Cairo during World War II, asks readers whether the heroine should elect to be a prostitute for British forces stationed in Cairo or the wife of a nice but dull alley barber. Al-Qahira al-jadida [New Cairo] records the exploits of some school friends, one of whom willingly sacrifices his honour to further his career. Like many of his other novels, some of which have also been successfully adapted for the stage, it has been made into a popular film. Al-lis wa-l-kilab The Thief and the Dogs is a brief and grim account of a convicted felon who attempts to take revenge on the powerful man who betrayed him. In Hikayat haratina Fountain and Tomb as in other works Mahfouz has utilized elements of Islamic mysticism, here as part of the framework for a series of lively vignettes of backstreet life. If Mahfouz has rarely shown the stylistic brilliance in Arabic of Ibrahim Abd al-qadir al-mazini or the natural simplicity of Tawfiq al-hakim, he has demonstrated an awesome and deft mastery of the Arabic language, which in its Page 2

3 vast potential resembles an enormously complicated pipe organ. Even so, Mahfouz is more noteworthy for his psychological penetration and his ability to make even minor characters convincing and appealing, no matter how disgusting, than for the poetry of his language. In his more recent fiction, Mahfouz, who has been amazingly prolific through the years, has tended to abandon the detailed social realism that first made his reputation, favouring instead experiments in more rapid delivery of stories stripped to their psychological core or attempts to return to a more traditional, Islamic form of storytelling. Yet from the very beginning of his career with his first historical novels set in ancient Egypt, Mahfouz has been experimenting with different literary forms. The Cairo Trilogy, for all its traditional social realism, must have seemed to him a giant experiment. Page 3

4 Chapter 3 : Miramar blog.quintoapp.com Note: Citations are based on reference standards. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. The specific requirements or preferences of your reviewing publisher, classroom teacher, institution or organization should be applied. Recognized for his stories and novels in which he creates psychological portraits of characters whose personal struggles mirror the social, political, religious, and cultural concerns confronting his homeland, Mahfouz first won respect during the mids for a series of novels set among the impoverished districts of Cairo. Although best-known for his novels, critics praise his prolific output of short fiction in which he explores the realities of present-day Egypt. Biographical Information Mahfouz is the youngest of several children raised by his mother and father, a merchant, in the medieval section of Old Cairo, a familiar setting in much of his fiction. Though surrounded by intense political strife during the Egyptian Revolution and subsequent nationalist protests against British rule, Mahfouz had a happy childhood. He eventually moved with his family to a modern neighborhood in Cairo, where as an adolescent he read widely and attended adventure movies at the local cinema. While in high school Mahfouz studied philosophy and Arabic literature, falling under the influence of contemporary authors Taha Hussein, Abbas al-akkad, and Salma Musa. Mahfouz began studies at the University of Cairo in, where he earned a degree in philosophy in Upon graduation he enrolled in graduate courses in philosophy, but he left after only a year to pursue a career as a full-time writer. In Mahfouz published his first two volumes of fiction: Mahfouz maintained a prolific output of novels and short stories through the s and s. During the next decade, he served as director of the Foundation for Support of the Cinema and continued to produce additional volumes of short stories and novels. His Awlad haratina ; Children of Gebelawi generated considerable controversy upon its serialized publication in a newspaper in Denounced by Islamic fundamentalists as blasphemous, the book was banned in Egypt, though eventually appeared in book form through a Lebanese publisher in Upon his retirement in, Mahfouz devoted himself to his writing. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in He survived an assassination attempt by Islamic extremists in, during which he was stabbed; those behind the plot were arrested and executed. Major Works of Short Fiction In his short fiction, Mahfouz strives to create realistic characters and investigate political issues, social and cultural malaise, spiritual crises, alienation, and decadence in contemporary Egypt. When the poet is revealed to be a fraud, the woman is ridiculed and shunned. He now regrets his earlier actions and encourages permissiveness in his own family. Along the way, he encounters several village elders, among them a Muslim court lawyer, a bookseller, a calligrapher, a composer, and a landowner. Finally, the narrator gets drunk and passes outâ only to wake up and realize that Zabalawi had been there while he was sleeping. He resolves to continue his search despite many obstacles. Critical Reception Mahfouz is widely considered among the most important Arabic-language authors of the twentieth century. Some commentators bemoan the fact that his short fiction is often subjugated to his novels and urge greater attention to his shorter works. Page 4

5 Chapter 4 : Holdings : Critical perspectives on Naguib Mahfouz / York University Libraries If searching for a book Critical Perspectives on Naguib Mahfouz in pdf form, then you have come on to faithful site. We present the full edition of this ebook in txt, doc, epub, DjVu, PDF forms. He has gained this distinction not only because he is the only Arab writer to date to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature but also because his fiction evinces a profound understanding of human nature at large and of the Egyptian consciousness in particular. He is a novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In Mahfuz completed The Trilogy, his magnum opus, the story of a middle-class family of Cairo before and during the revolution. He abstained from writing for the next few years, meanwhile studying the new revolutionary regime, and absorbing the sensibilities of the new period. After this silence, he produced another major work, Awlad haratina ; Children of Gebelawi,, an allegorical novel about the descendants of a common ancestor. Next came Liss wa-al-kilab ; The Thief and the Dogs, and then novels that broke completely from his earlier techniques and portrayals. Miramar, the last novel Mahfuz wrote in the s, belongs to this phase of experimentation. The novel focuses on the clash between the old and new regimes, exploring the emotional trauma related to the loss of recently espoused nationalist ideals, as well as the coercive reality of Egypt in the s. Events in History at the Time of the Novel Revolutionary overview Miramar takes place during the s in the city of Alexandria. However, a number of its characters are vestiges of an earlier period of Egyptian society. Egypt underwent some major political and social changes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from occupation by the British, to local uprisings against the occupation, to the birth of an uncompromising nationalist movement. Emerging as leader of the Revolution, Gamal Abdel Nasser introduced an idealistic program of economic plans and political changes that aimed to forever alter the face of Egyptian society. The program promised to move Egypt away from the old feudal system to a new socialist regime that would redistribute wealth equally among its citizens. There was no upper-middle class to speak of, but this promised to change with the success of the Revolution. The revolutionaries espoused six principles: As it turned out, some people for example, the newly established army bureaucracy and landless peasant would benefit greatly from the transformations that did take place; others such as politicians, businessmen, and the anti-reformist pre-revolutionary landowners would suffer huge losses. The s saw some early reforms aimed at realizing the ideals. In a sweeping land reform was introduced, limiting landownership to fed-dans per person or per family afeddan being somewhat larger than an acre. A blow to the wealthy landowners, the reform made the fledgling regime wildly popular with the peasants, obviously less so with the dispossessed landowners. In Egypt terminated its monarchy and declared itself a republic. A struggle for power ensued, leading to military purges, press crackdowns, pro-democracy demonstrations, and waves of arrests. The regime had begun to take repressive measures. From pre- to post-revolutionary Egypt Miramar peeks into the psyche of a few characters who together comprise a sample of Egyptians trying to adjust to the new social order. There is no attempt to glorify the old regime or to side with the new one. The novel simply explores the tensions that arise when supporters of pre-revolutionary Egypt encounter proponents of the post-revolutionary regime. Pre-revolutionary Egypt was subject to 70 years of occupation by the British. Almost immediately some Egyptians, led by Colonel Ahmad Urabi, mounted an army revolt against the occupiers, and other revolts followed. In, for example, there was another revolt that saw Egyptian men and, for the first time, women marching down the streets, demanding independence. By the mid-twentieth century, Egypt had experienced the rise of this and other political groups as well as increasing civil unrest against the British occupation. Egypt was ripe for fundamental change. On July 23,, a group of army officers, the Free Officers, seized power, and forced King Faruq to abdicate. On July 24, Faruq sailed into exile and with this the year-old monarchy â came to an end. The Free Officers established themselves as an army regime and the creators of a new order, distinct from the previous regime and its factions such as the Wafd and the Muslim Brotherhood. Seeking independent legitimacy, the officers promoted a moderate brand of Islam and secular rule. Nasser emerged as the undisputed leader of the new order, thanks to his ability to marshal mass support. Stepping into the presidency in, he placed high on his agenda some sweeping objectives: He came to be regarded as a Page 5

6 latter-day Arab hero. In Nasser introduced some later reformsâ a program of decrees characterized as social justice in contrast to the pre-revolutionary capitalism and feudalism. New laws were created to further dispossess the upper class and large landowners. The regime nationalized banks and insurance companies, as well as some heavy industrial and shipping companies. Other companies, textile manufacturers, for example, became partially state-owned. Justifying itself, the regime said the newly dispossessed were foreigners and Egyptian monopoly holders who ought not to be in charge of these important national assets. In Nasser issued a document, the Socialist Charter, which outlined a new ideology that his regime adopted. The document was based on the idea that a socialist transformation was inevitable, indeed imperative, for the much needed radical changes to transpire. His charter was followed by the formation of a huge political enterprise, The Arab Socialist Union ASU, an untraditional alliance of peasants, workers, the army, and the intelligentsia. The ASU aimed to guide the masses and protect their rights. Throughout the s, it influenced education, production, aesthetics, prices, and even sports, ultimately turning into a force that coerced society to conform to its policies. Arab socialism made progress on another front tooâ that of womenâ committing itself to social and economic egalitarianism across gender lines. As a national coalition that represented popular authority, the ASU would continue to stand at the center of power past the time of the novel, until it was liquidated by President Anwar al-sadat in Education An element that figures in Miramafs storyline, education was one of the major reform initiatives of the Revolution. The principles of socialism, Arabism, national consciousness, and freedom were furthermore to be infused into the educational curricula. As the regime became increasingly authoritarian, however, the gap between this lip service to the promotion of freedom and the reality of repression became increasingly clear. There was also a practical problem when it came to providing free education for all. The numbers of students at all educational levels increased to an alarming degree, taxing the existing resources. The result was an inevitable deterioration in the quality of education. No wonder, in view of their own frustrating conditions, that many students went on to become political activists and attach themselves to communist parties and radical religious societies, among other groups, in their search for better solutions. It should be noted here that Nasser always had a tense relationship with the communist elements inside and outside Egypt. He regarded them as a threat to his leadership and worked on rooting them out. One of the characters in Miramax is a young communist. The turbulent sixties The s saw Nasser enter into a period of great popularity with the Arab world, in which he was viewed as a hero for his Arab nationalist fervor. To solidify his pan-arab leadership he unified Egypt with Syria in February Tension developed between Nasser and rulers across the Arab world, who saw this merger as a latent opportunity for Nasser to centralize Arab rule in Egypt. Some of those tensions escalated into open conflicts. To fund the tens of thousands of Egyptian troops sent into Yemen, the Egyptian regime had to drain its coffers of funds needed to address problems at homeâ in education, for instance, as detailed above. Consequently the line between those who benefited from the Revolution and those who lost out because of it became more blurred. Now the newly endowed were losing out too. Those who profited from the changes moved closer to those who felt cheated by them. The next year Nasser acted to restore his leadership of Arab nationalism by issuing the National Charter. This charter outlined the path of Egyptian development by way of Arab socialism as detailed above and committed Egypt to exporting its revolution to all Arab states. It was with this commitment in mind that Nasser involved Egypt in the Yemeni Civil War, which pitted a reactionary theocracy against a dissenting faction that called for reforming Yemen into a republic. As with the United States in the Vietnam War, the outside powers who sent troops into Yemen found themselves entangled far longer than anticipated. Some of its finest troops were in Yemen when conflict with Israel broke out in Hopwood, p. By then the drive for Arab unity, which Nasser had spearheaded for years, had backfired. The Arab world was more divided than ever and domestic disharmony plagued Egypt too. This, along with the nationalization schemes of and which did indeed lead to state ownership of all large-scale enterprises and resources bred this inflated bureaucracy, whose members were too ill trained to administer efficiently. Privileges were abused, and the organization developed into a personal power base for its leader, Ali Sabri, among others. Meanwhile, the Egyptian population increased substantially throughout the sixties, and people recognized the lower quality of education and fewer employment opportunities in the countryside as opposed to the cities. As a result, massive migration ensued from rural to Page 6

7 urban centers such as Cairo, Alexandria, and Port Said, leading to overcrowding and various economic stresses on these centers. Ironically, amidst all this unrest, the position of women improved. By two women had been elected to the national assembly, and by a woman, Dr. Moreover, the sâ 70s were active decades on the feminist front; women started to openly discuss traditionally taboo subjects such as contraception and to call for reform of the Personal Status Code, a body of law on issues of direct importance to women divorce, polygamy, child custody, and so forth. Alexandria The northern coastline of Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt, abuts the Mediterranean Sea. In climate and character, the city appears to be more Mediterranean than Middle Eastern. It quickly became a pivotal trading port and a crossroads of many cultures. The city contains ruins and monuments of almost all the ancient civilizations, from pagan Egyptian, to Greek and Roman, to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic. For centuries, its population was a fusion of Greeks, Italians, Armenians, Maltese, and Lebanese, as well as Egyptians. The lifestyles and businesses of the foreign communities lent the city a cosmopolitan air. After the Revolution, this foreign population gradually left the city, making way for a more thoroughly Egyptian population. Over the last 40 years, the foreign community has dwindled to a tiny percentage, made up mostly of elderly people without the energy or strength to revive the past Mediterranean society. Still the city retains a distinct image in Egyptian society. In their consciousness, Alexandria represents freedom from the restraints of serious concerns, and in keeping with its relaxing effect on guests, the city has come to represent a contrast to the stressful hustle and bustle of Cairo. Escaping the summer heat, which sweeps most of the Egyptian heartland, vacationers invade Alexandria in June to August in droves, seeking out its Mediterranean beaches and cool evening breezes. In the fall and winter months, the weather is frequently cold, windy, and rainy. During these seasons, the city often attracts people searching for solitude or for a hiding place. It is this aspect of the city that Najib Mahfuz weaves into the fabric of his novel. His choice of winter, as opposed to summer the popular season, evokes an atmosphere conducive to hiding. The lives of five men and two women intersect when they encounter one another at an Alexandrian pension bed-and-breakfast called Miramar. The five guests are Amer Wagdi An elderly retired political journalist in his 80s. Wagdi is a former activist in the nationalist Wafd Party; he participated in its revolt against the British. Page 7

8 Chapter 5 : Trevor Legassick U-M LSA Middle East Studies Eleven essays by Western and Middle Eastern scholars evaluate the work of Naguib Mahfouz, arguably Egypt's greatest novelist, and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Various Committee assignments, on yearly basis. Rackham Program Evaluation Committee. Comparative Literature Program Faculty Advisor. Rackham Divisional Board for Humanities and Arts. Rackham Fulbright-Hayes Awards Committee. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor,, pp. American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, Critical Perspectives on Naguib Mahfouz. Translation from the Arabic with Introduction. Days of Dust by Halim Barakat. Flipflop and His Master by Y. Press, California,, pp. Abd El Koddus, Cairo, Jayyusi Vantage, New York,, pp. Republished by Zed Book Ltd. The Thief and the Dogs with M. Badawi by Naguib Mahfouz. American University of Cairo Press et alia. Republished with additions in Michigan Quarterly Review, Spring, pp. Mahfouz in Studies in Modern Arabic Literature. Ostle, Warminster, England, pp. Bellamy, Ann Arbor,, pp. Literature East and West, Vol. Republished in Adair, C. The Aorta by Y. Idris Mundrus Artium, Vol. Playing House by Y. Idris Michigan Oriental Studies, ed. Heaven and I by Ihsan Abd al-quddus. World and I, Washington, Feb. Military Society by A. Enemy of the Sun: Poetry of Palestinian Resistance, ed. Murder in Baghdad by S. Abd al-sabur, translation by K. Semaan, Middle East Journal, Vol. The Short Story, ed. Haqqi, translated by M. Algar, Middle East Journal Vol. Promoter of the Arabic Literary Revival by C. Nijland, Middle East Journal, Vol. The Ship by J. Bulletin 20,, pp. The Arabic Novel by R. Origins of Modern Arabic Fiction by M. Moosa, Digest of Middle East Studies, Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Literature by I. DeYoung, Modern Fiction Studies, Studies in Contemporary Arab Nationalist Literature. Page 8

9 Chapter 6 : Formats and Editions of Critical perspectives on Naguib Mahfouz [blog.quintoapp.com] The beggar / Naguib Mahfouz ; translated by Kristin Walker Henry and Nariman Khales Naili al-warraki. PJ A46 S Sugar Street / Naguib Mahfouz ; translated by William Maynard Hutchins and Angele Botros Samaan. Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language author awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, winning in Because his siblings were many years older, he grew up essentially an only child. In, Mahfouz received a degree in philosophy from the University of Cairo and did postgraduate study in philosophy for the next two years. At the time, Egypt was a protectorate of the United Kingdom but was also a nominally sovereign country ruled by a king although it also had a growing nationalist movement. While the United Kingdom controlled foreign affairs, defense, security of communications, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the situation changed in That year, King Faruk ascended to the throne and the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty limited British control to only armed forces in specified areas, primarily along the vital Suez Canal. Encouraged by Salama Musa, an Egyptian socialist and editor of an intellectual journal, Mahfouz began writing short stories while he was a university student. Many of these stories were collected in Whisper of Madness The Cairo Trilogy In response to the political and social conditions in Egypt during World War II, Mahfouz turned his attention from ancient history to the contemporary situation of Egypt. While the war was being fought, the Egyptian nationalist movement continued to grow. Because of royal extravagance, government corruption, and delays in social and political reforms, King Faruk was removed from power in a coup. In, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the leader of the revolution, forced Naguib out of power and took control of Egypt himself. Egypt sought international support for key internal projects, and also unified with the Syria in the short-lived United Arab Republic â In what is known as the Cairo Trilogy, Mahfouz created a series of portraits of several Cairo families. Palace Walk, Palace of Desire: The Cairo Trilogy III depict families and communities from the middle and lower classes of Egyptian society, some struggling to climb the social ladder, others trying to survive, while the country witnesses a period of turmoil both domestically and internationally. The novels cover such topics as the Egyptian Revolution of in which nationalist Egyptians attempted to gain independence from Great Britain, the effects of modernization on cultural and religious values, and changing social attitudes toward women, education, and science. Disillusionment Although Mahfouz had supported the Egyptian Revolution of, which successfully overthrew the monarchy and eventually established Egypt as a republic, he became disillusioned with the resulting social, educational, and land reforms. After seven years of silence, Mahfouz wrote the pessimistic and allegorical novel Children of Gebelawi in Although it was published in Lebanon in, the novel has not yet been published in Egypt. A new English translation of the book appeared in under the title Children of the Alley. Social Commentary Fiction Drawing on his education in philosophy and his familiarity with the cities of his country, Mahfouz was committed to writing fiction that revealed the hopes and concerns of the Egyptian people. The portraits he drew were not always flattering. The novel expands from this situation to become a general critique of Egyptian society. Al-Hubb tahta al-matar and Al-Karnak contrast the repressive actions of authorities during the postrevolutionary regime of Nasser with the idealism of young people hoping for political and social reform. Taking its inspiration and form directly from A Thousand and One Nights, Arabian Nights and Days is more a loosely connected set of tales than a novel. Begin, the sixth prime minister of Israel and cowinner of the Nobel Prize for Peace with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, began the Lebanon War as a retaliatory gesture against the Abu Nidal terrorist organization. After a term marred by inflation, fuel shortages, and U. This Egyptian dramatist and novelist established serious drama as an Egyptian art form. His plays include The People of the Cave Anwar el Sadat â Sadat, the third president of Egypt and cowinner of the Nobel Prize for Peace with Israeli prime minister Begin, was assassinated by radicals opposed to his position on Israel. Many of the realistic short stories by this Egyptian writer are in the vernacular. His short-story collections include Akrhas Layali Rushdie is an Indian writer and novelist who uses magical realism in his novels. The Satanic Verses led to protests and death threats over his portrayal of the prophet Muhammad. He contributed columns on a wide range of topics to Al-Ahram, a leading Egyptian newspaper. As a dramatist and scriptwriter, Mahfouz endeavored to elevate the intellectual content of theater Page 9

10 and film in Egypt. He also published several collections of short stories. Nobel Laureate In, Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in recognition of his dedication to developing a tradition of modern fiction in Arabic. Along with worldwide acclaim, the award also brought Mahfouz a death sentence. The same year Salman Rushdie was denounced for his Satanic Verses, an influential Egyptian Muslim cleric issued a death sentence against Mahfouz for his notorious novel Children of Gebelawi. On October 13,, the anniversary of the announcement of his Nobel Prize, Mahfouz was stabbed in the neck by a religious fanatic. Although Mahfouz recovered, the attack left him unable to write with a pen, forcing him to dictate his later works, which included his autobiography Echoes of an Autobiography. In the years preceding his death, several of his fictional works appeared in English translation, including his first three novels. Up until his death, Mahfouz published accounts of his own dreams in a Cairo periodical. These pieces appeared in book form under the title The Dreams in Mahfouz died on August 30,, at the age of ninety-four. Early stories in Hams al junun, for instance, explore themes of conformity and deviance from the norm. In works such as Midaq Alley and The Beginning and the End, Mahfouz blends formal language with colloquialisms. At the same time, he depicts the struggle and turmoil of individuals in repressive environments. Literary Techniques In his later works, Mahfouz uses literary devices such as allegory, symbolism, and experimental narrative techniques to explore social and cultural disillusionment, spiritual crisis, alienation, political issues, and corruption in contemporary Egypt. Modeling his characters on religious figures including Jesus, Adam, Satan, Moses, and Muhammad, Mahfouz explores such broad themes as the nature of evil and the meaning of life. In the s, Mafouz abandoned the traditional realism that characterized his previous works. He produced shorter novels that employed many of the experimental techniquesâ including stream of consciousness and scriptlike dialogueâ of modern Western literature. This is one of several works in which Mahfouz depicts an outlaw who is rebelling against repressive values, often embodied by unscrupulous officials. Works in Critical Context Mahfouz pioneered the development of the modern Arabic novel and became its first genuine master. Here are some other works of social realism: The Doll, a novel by Boleslaw Prus. This novel examines the lives of two men living in Warsaw, Poland, under Russian rule. Middlemarch â, a novel by George Eliot. This novel, later turned into a Broadway musical, follows a group of poor French citizens and criminals during and after the Napoleonic period. Oliver Twist â, a novel by Charles Dickens. This novel follows an orphan through the gritty underworld of Victorian London. The Red and the Black, a novel by Stendhal. Why or why not? Write a paper that outlines your opinions. Hip-hop artists often defend the language and topics of their lyrics by saying that they are just reflecting their society. Why do their lyrics not change once they become successful and move to wealthy neighborhoods? Are they genuinely concerned about their roots, or are they capitalizing on what made them successful? Create a presentation, using musical examples, to illustrate your points. Do artistsâ singers, writers, filmmakers, and othersâ have a responsibility to promote solutions to the social issues they bring up? Write a paper in which you explain your arguments. Books are banned in the United States today, not just in Arab countries. Are there ever cases where banning books is justified, such as books about terrorism or ones that promote violence against a particular group? Research book banning in the United States. Write an essay arguing for or against the practice of banning books. Use specific examples in your argument. Beard, Michael and Adnan Haydar, eds. From Regional Fame to Global Recognition. Syracuse University Press, Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel General Egyptian Book Organization, Critical Perspectives on Naguib Mahfouz. The Novelist-Philosopher of Cairo. Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber: Reflections of a Nobel Laureate, â American University in Cairo Press, Life in the Alley of Arab History. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Chapter 7 : Naguib Mahfouz blog.quintoapp.com In Naguib Mahfouz's short story The Lawsuit, "the law" is a secondary character to the moral implications suggested by the now-destitute widow's condition following the narrator's father's death. Chapter 8 : Naguib Mahfouz: a farewell tribute opendemocracy Page 10

11 Essay on Critical Analysis of Half a Day by Naguib Mahfouz's Words 4 Pages "Half a Day" by Naguib Mahfouz is an allegorical short story that reflects the journey of life and the speed in which it begins and ends. Chapter 9 : Naguib Mahfouz Mahfouz, Naguib (Short Story Criticism) - Essay - blog.quintoapp.com critical study on short story of naguib mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz is a novelist, yet his literary activity began with short story writing and this is a form to which he has since occasionally returned. Page 11