Naguib - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006)

Born in 1911 to a Muslim family of modest means in an older district within Cairo. The milieu of his upbringing –

a densely populated,

traditional

, and

antique neighborhood of Cairo – forms the setting for most of his realist works.

Naguib

Mahfouz was extraordinarily prolific, writing 34 novels (and hundreds of short stories over his literary career (in addition to several screen plays and theatrical works). Starting with a phase of historical novels,

Naguib

Mahfouz’s literary career encapsulates the evolution of the Arabic novel: historical novels, realism,

symbolism,

and finally, postmodern experimentation.

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Mahfouz’s literary idiom set the standard for novelistic writings: clear and unadorned, yet richly evocative. The idiom is neither classical nor vernacular, but a marvelous middle ground that

has since become the standard for literary prose

.

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Mahfouz’

Cairo Trilogy

is arguably one of the finest extended imaginary prose works in the Arabic language. This work, and others by

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Mahfouz, established the novel as a co-equal to poetry in the esteem of Arab readers and literary critics. Slide2

Naguib Mahfouz’ life is – in its own way – thoroughly unremarkable, though filled in his own recollections with the warmth and love of his family.

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was never a “professional” writer or novelist. He worked as a civil servant in the Ministry of Pious Endowments (

waqf

) for most of his life, and his life was one of modest means.

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Mahfouz was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, the first Arab writer to receive this honor.

In addition to Arabic sources of literary inspiration (historical novels, detective novels, and the quasi-autobiographical works of his immediate

antecedents)

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Mahfouz drew his inspiration from the English and French novelistic traditions (in the original languages and in Arabic translation).

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Mahfouz never deliberately courted controversy and, for the most part, maintained a low profile. However, an attempt was made on his life in 1994 by a religious extremist who stabbed him in the neck. The “offending” text was

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Mahfouz’ existentialist allegory,

The Children of

Gebelawi

, which re-enacts stories from the Torah, Bible, and Quran, in the outskirts of a modern city. Slide3

In speaking of his own political awareness, Naguib

Mahfouz cited the Egyptian Revolution

of

1919 against the British as one of the defining moments of his early life. Although the uprising was violently suppressed by the British, Egypt obtained

its nominal

independence from the

British, although

it remained very much under British

control.

Earlier stages in

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Mahfouz’ writing reflect a cautious optimism and unaffected love for his homeland.

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Mahfouz, like many others, steadily grew disappointed with the state of political affairs after the excitement and optimism of the Free Officers Revolution in 1952

and the

achievement of

national sovereignty for Egypt under the charismatic leadership of

Gamal

Abdel Nasser. Hope for a modern and democratic Egypt faded after decades of military rule and its

partner ideologies

of

secular Arab

Socialism and Arab Nationalism.

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Mahfouz’ own works begin to move into darker, more experimental territories as the social and political

rhetoric

of

national unity against a common cause (

colonization)

fractured into darker, more conspiratorial, and frequently

contradictory narratives.