Naguib Mahfouz is one of the best known Arab authors in the Western World. Mahfouz was born in 1911 in Gamaliyya an old quarter of Cairo, Egypt. His first novel was published in 1939, and since then he has published 40 books and 13 short story collections. His stories have been adapted for television, movies and stage throughout the Middle East, however, they lend such a keen insight into the structure of human society and social processes that they have universal appeal.

The short summary of his major themes is "the personal is political." Mahfouz continually reminds us that human beings are a part of the systems in which they reside, and have power to shape those systems in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. He maintains a delicate balance between the individual and societal level in his stories -- the characters and systems interact but do not fully blend.

This emphasis on both personal and political elements is an echo of Mahfouz's own life. From 1934 to 1971 he served as a civil servant in a variety of Egyptian ministries. He contibuted to the political life of Egypt at the same time that he was definining one aspect of its cultural life -- the novel -- in the same way his characters live dual lives as both political subjects and objects.

This delicate political balance has brought Mahfouz trouble. In 1994 he was attacked by Muslim radicals who called for his death because of Mahfouz's support of peace with Israel. Two of his books are banned in Egypt.

Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. When making the award, The Swedish Academy of Letters declared that Mahfouz "through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind."

I reviewed Midaq Alley elsewhere -- it is an excellent book.

All contents copyright 2002.
See my comments on plagiarism for more details.

This information on Naguib Mahfouz is from the following sources:

Naguib Mahfouz: Biased to Grassroots. Includes biographic and bibliographic data, as well as a fascinating analysis of the various stages of Mahfouz's work.

Naguib Mahfouz: Nobel Prize Winning Author examines his political career, though only slightly, and has several interesting links.

Recovering Egypt Writer Asks Extremisms Defeat from the Boston Globe. Some information about the 1994 attack on Mahfouz.

Naguib Mahfouz. Includes a discussion of Mahfouz and Salman Rushdie and a complete list of Mahfouz books available in English.