Naguib Mahfouz - Life and work, Works

Novelist, born in Cairo, Egypt. He graduated from Cairo University in 1934 and held administrative posts, but by 1939 had already written three novels. His later work was somewhat overshadowed by the notoriety surrounding The Children of Gebelawi (1961), serialized in the magazine Al-Ahram, which portrayed average Egyptians living the lives of Cain and Abel, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Islamic scholars judged the work blasphemous and it was banned throughout the Arab world, except Lebanon, and did not reappear in Egypt until 2006. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, after which many of his novels were translated into English and other languages. In 1994 he survived a knife attack on his life by Islamic fundamentalists, and in 1996 published Echoes of the Autobiography (trans title). Generally regarded as the greatest Arab novelist of the 20th-c, he continued to live modestly in his flat beside the R Nile in Cairo until his death.

Naguib Mahfouz (Arabic: نجيب محفوظ‎, Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ) (December 11, 1911 – August 30, 2006) was an Egyptian novelist who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Life and work

Mahfouz was born in the Gamaliya quarter of Cairo, named after Professor Naguib Pasha Mahfouz (1882-1974), the physician who delivered him.

Many of his novels were first published in serialized form, including Children of Gebelawi and Midaq Alley which was adapted into a Mexican film starring Salma Hayek (El callejón de los milagros).

Children of Gebelawi (1959), one of Mahfouz's best known works, has been banned in Egypt for alleged blasphemy over its allegorical portrayal of God and the monotheistic Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Due to his outspoken support for President Anwar Sadat's Camp David peace treaty with Israel, his books were banned in many Arab countries until after he won the Nobel prize.

Prior to his death, Mahfouz was the oldest living Nobel Literature laureate and the third oldest of all time, trailing only Bertrand Russell and Halldor Laxness.

In July 2006, Mahfouz sustained an injury to his head as a result of a fall.

Mahfouz was accorded a state funeral with full military honors on August 31, 2006 in Cairo.

Mahfouz once dreamed that all the social classes of Egypt, including the very poor, joined his funeral procession.

Works

Old Egypt (1932) مصر القديمة Whisper of Madness (1938)همس الجنون Mockery of the Fates (1939) عبث الأقدار Rhadopis of Nubia (1943) رادوبيس The Struggle of Tyba (1944) كفاح طيبة Modern Cairo (1945) القاهرة الجديدة Khan al-Khalili (1945) خان الخليلى Midaq Alley (1947) زقاق المدق The Mirage (1948) السراب The Beginning and The End (1950) بداية ونهاية The Cairo Trilogy الثلاثية Palace Walk (1956) بين القصرين Palace of Desire (1957) قصر الشوق Sugar Street (1957) السكرية Children of Gebelawi (1959) أولاد حارتنا The Thief and the Dogs (1961) اللص والكلاب Quail and Autumn (1962) السمان والخريف God's World (1962) دنيا الله Zaabalawi (1963) The Search (1964) الطريق The Beggar (1965) الشحاذ Adrift on the Nile (1966) ثرثرة فوق النيل Miramar (1967) ميرامار The Pub of the Black Cat (1969) خمارة القط الأسود Chitchat on the nile (1971) ثرثره فوق النيل A story without a beginning or an ending (1971)حكاية بلا بداية ولا نهاية The Honeymoon (1971) شهر العسل Mirrors (1972) المرايا Love under the rain (1973) الحب تحت المطر The Crime (1973) الجريمة al-Karnak (1974) الكرنك Respected Sir (1975) حضرة المحترم The Harafish (1977) ملحمة الحرافيش Love above the Pyramid Plateau (1979) الحب فوق هضبة الهرم The Devil Preaches (1979) الشيطان يعظ Love and the Veil (1980) عصر الحب Arabian Nights and Days (1981) ليالى ألف ليلة Wedding Song (1981) أفراح القبة One hour remains (1982) الباقي من الزمن ساعة The Journey of Ibn Fattouma (1983) رحلة إبن فطومة Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth (1985) العائش فى الحقيقة The Day the Leader was Killed (1985) يوم مقتل الزعيم Fountain and Tomb (1988) Dreams of the Rehabilitation Period (2004) أحلام فترة النقاهة