Naguib Mahfouz Summary

Najib Mahfuz (born 1912) was Egypt's foremost novelist and the first Arab to win the Nobel Prize in literature. He had wide influence in the Arab world and was the author from that area best known to ... Read more

In the following essay, Shammas discusses Mahfouz as an Arabic novelist and considers his influence on Arabic literature. In the acceptance speech he sent to the Nobel Prize committee to substitute... Read more

In the following positive review, Dickey praises the political background and insights in Sugar Street. Beggars groped for alms outside the al-Hussein mosque in Cairo. Their feet were bandaged, the... Read more

In the following review, Lively offers a positive assessment of Sugar Street, comparing Mahfouz to John Galsworthy. Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy, of which Sugar Street is the final volume,... Read more

In the following essay, Asfour surveys the critical reaction to Mahfouz's work. No contemporary Arab man of letters has managed to preoccupy our literary mentality as much as Naguib Mahfouz.... Read more

In the following essay, Matar discusses the controversy surrounding the homosexuality and homosexual issues that Mahfouz portrays in several of his novels. Upon the publication of Midaq Alley in 19... Read more

In the following essay, Weaver considers the impact of religious and political events on Mahfouz's life and career—particularly the attempt on Mahfouz's life in 1994. Naguib Ma... Read more

In the following review of Arabian Nights and Days, Mesic offers a positive assessment of Mahfouz's adaptation of The Arabian Nights. At the heart of Arabian Nights and Days, an enthralling ... Read more

In the following review, de Botton offers a generally favorable assessment of Echoes of an Autobiography. This is an autobiography only in the loosest sense. We don't hear where the author w... Read more

In the following essay, Milson traces Mahfouz's development as a writer and discusses his major thematic concerns. What one cannot theorize about, one must narrate. —Umberto Eco ... Read more

In the following essay, Ghosh provides an overview of Mahfouz's life and career as well as evaluating his contribution to modern Arabic literature. I. In Egypt, the news that the writer Nagu... Read more

In the following positive review of The Beginning and the End, The Thief and the Dogs, and Wedding Song, Taylor describes several reasons why American audiences cannot fully appreciate Mahfouz'... Read more

In the following review, Hussein explores how Palace of Desire serves as a bridge between Mahfouz's earlier works and his later, more cynical prose. The severed head of Islam's most h... Read more

In the following essay, Somekh maintains that “Zabalawi” foreshadows themes and narrative techniques that recur in Mahfouz's later writing. “Za‘balāw... Read more

In the following essay, Allen explores the dominant themes of “Lovers' Quarter” and provides historical context for the story. The steady stream of English translations that ha... Read more

In the following essay, which was originally published in 1974, Mikhail examines the portrayal of religion in Yusuf Idris's “Tabliyya min al-Samā’” and Mahfouz... Read more

In the following essay, Somekh explicates Mahfouz's vision of Egypt and the human condition as evinced in his short fiction. I The Swedish Academy of Letters described the fiction of Naguib ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Mikhail considers the role of love in the short fiction of Mahfouz and Yusuf Idris. Brief Encounters: Love and Initiation in the Stories of Idris and Mahfouz As the relati... Read more

In the following essay, Mikhail delineates the relationship between existentialism and Arab thought in Mahfouz's short fiction. The relationship between existentialism and Arab thought has b... Read more