#naguib mahfouz

[dunkelundunbekannt]

"Das Schweigen ist der letzte Versuch, ihnen alles zu sagen, was sie nicht verstanden haben, als wir gesprochen haben."

– Naguib Mahfouz

[osnziche]

Home is not where you are born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease.

- Naguib Mahfouz

[litandlifequotes]

We understand with our minds but live with our hearts. Despite your skeptical stance, you love, work together with other people, and share in the political life of your nation. Whether we are conscious of it or not, behind each of these initiatives there is a principle that is no less powerful than faith. Art is the interpreter of the human world. besides that, some writers have produced works forming part of the international contest of ideas. In their hands art has become one of the weapons of international progress. There is non way that art can be considered a frivolous activity.

Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz

[askyea-poesy]

It's a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind.

Nagulb Mahfouz

[elegantzombielite]

"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions."

Naguib Mahfouz, writer, Nobel laureate (11th December 1911-2006)

[doctorcolubra]

Mahfouz, Palace Walk, and al-Hakim, Return of the Spirit

These were both translated from Arabic by William Maynard Hutchins. I read Palace Walk in 12/24 and really enjoyed it! This is a family saga (I haven't yet read the other two books in the trilogy, but they're in my TBR) set in Egypt just before the revolution of 1919. The mother, Amina, the two daughters, Khadija and Aisha, and the three sons, Yasin, Fahmy, and Kamal, all live in fear of the strict father, Ahmad, who demands rigid obedience from them all while secretly being a womanising alcoholic. In this respect I found it very similar to Irish-Catholic family stories! Every character here has something going on: Yasin discovers his father's secret life and tries to copy him; Fahmy is devoted to politics and resisting the English; sarcastic Khadija feels inferior because of her appearance; the more conciliatory Aisha is beautiful and schemes to get married ahead of her older sister; youngest child Kamal is sensitive to upheaval in the house and tries to prevent his sisters from marrying and leaving him; Amina suffers from her isolation in the house but nevertheless tries to impose it on her daughter-in-law. While the prose in translation was nothing special, it had a consistent sound that served the characters well and I became very invested in everybody's lives.

Return of the Spirit, on the other hand…

Read this one in 1/25 and I was looking forward to it because of its similarities to Palace Walk, as it covers the same period in Egyptian history and was an important influence on Naguib Mahfouz (Return was published in 1933 and Palace Walk in 1956). But I just. Didn't dig it. The female characters especially (all two of them) had little dimension. Return is comic, even cartoonish, throughout the first half, as young Muhsin and his three uncles all attempt to court the daughter of their next-door neighbour, Saniya, while the maiden aunt Zanuba spends the family's food budget on magic spells to get a husband of her own. Saniya and Zanuba both fall in love with other neighbour Mustafa, who does nothing for 75% of the book and then inexplicably becomes a viewpoint character who we're supposed to care about and like. Not happening! Develop your sympathetic characters before the midpoint or don't do it at all, pal!

Awkwardly attached to this comic romance (whose resolution is underwhelming) is some Romantic nationalism about Egypt, heavily influenced by Russian literature in the idealised picture of the peasants (Dostoyevsky gets a mention). This book was a favourite of Gamal Abdel Nasser and you can see why, with its thesis that the common people of Egypt are only capable of greatness when they have a strong leader to rally around. While it's not very original, this was the part of the book that I felt best justified its existence. The political writing is naive and chauvinistic, and significantly features a long monologue about the wonderful character of the Egyptian people…delivered by a French archaeologist. This monologue does contradict the orientalist idea that the modern Egypt was totally disconnected from its ancient roots and incapable of achieving its former state of grandeur, but it does so by amping up the colonial conception of the Bedouins as "animals." Didn't care for that!

(Return is also totally oblivious to the humanity of the black Nubian servants who appear, something Mahfouz is also guilty of, although such servants are less common in his book.)

A big part of the problem here was the translation. I don't know why Hutchins was able to do a better job with Palace Walk, maybe that's down to Mahfouz, but Return had numerous jarring choices, with characters saying "Aye, in truth…" alongside anachronisms like "poetry slam" or "pop music." It didn't feel cohesive, the jokes didn't land, and it didn't sound good.

I did love the cover of Return, by Egyptian illustrator Mahmoud Refaat—it's rare for a classic book to have a cover that actually depicts the characters rather than a tangentially-connected painting, let's bring that back! I liked the depictions of traditional Egyptian magic. I liked Muhsin as a character and was sympathetic to Zanuba, but they get nothing from this narrative in the end. I'm glad I pushed all the way to the end because I frequently regret DNFing, but I can't recommend this unless you're hyperfocused on Egypt in this period.

[mahdidconanm]

ليالي ألف ليلة - نجيب محفوظ

🟪🟥🌙☀️

[alohapromisesforever]

Thought For the Day: You Can Tell Whether A Man Is Clever By His Answers. You Can Tell Whether A Man Is Wise By His Questions

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” – Naguib Mahfouz, writer, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1911-2006)

[dunkelundunbekannt]

„Niemand wird dich verstehen, außer zwei: einer, der deine Situation durchlebt hat, und der andere, der dich sehr liebt.“

-Naguib Mahfouz

[notasfilosoficas]

“En los pliegues del infortunio se esconde la felicidad, como el diamante en la grieta de la mina”

Naguib Mahfuz

Fue un escritor, columnista, dramaturgo y guionista de cine egipcio nacido en El Cairo, en diciembre de 1911.

Junto con su coterráneo Taha Hussein, se le considera como uno de los exponentes más importantes del existencialismo árabe.

Primeros años

Naguib creció en el famoso barrio Al-Gamali Ya, una de las zonas históricas más antiguas de la capital y fue el menor de 8 hermanos.

Desde su temprana juventud, Naguib destacó en la literatura y en edad escolar en la filosofía, escribió artículos en revistas especializadas y tradujo obras literarias en inglés a su idioma nativo.

Historia.

Naguib se dedicó a componer obras de ficción y publicó aproximadamente 80 relatos para la época en la que terminó la secundaria. 

Trabajó en el ministerio de asuntos religiosos de Egipto, entre 1939 y 1954. Desde su cargo Naguib cultivó mas su ímpetu por las letras dando origen a obras inconclusas.

Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Naguib se convirtió en literato y alterno su producción literaria con la producción de adaptaciones cinematográficas.

Entre 1956 y 1957 su obra Trilogía de El Cairo se posiciona como una obra de gran éxito.

Premio Nobel

Su mayor éxito literario provendría de Europa, con la concesión en 1988 del Premio Nobel de Literatura, lo que lo elevaría a la consideración de “padre de la prosa árabe”.

Entre los argumentos para recibir el Nobel destacan su trayectoria como poeta, novelista articulista. La Trilogía de El Cairo, fue calificada por la academia Sueca como “una demostración del arte árabe, el cual posee validez Universal”.

Mahfuz publicó en más de medio siglo 50 novelas, entre las que destacan “Historias de nuestro barrio”, “Palacio del deseo” y “El ladrón y los perros”.

Atentado

En 1994, fue herido gravemente en el cuello con una arma blanca por unos extremistas islámicos quienes consideraban a su obra como una blasfemia contra la religión musulmana.

La salud del escritor se vió muy afectada después del atentado provocándole daños a la vista y oídos, así como la parálisis del brazo derecho, lo que le impidió seguir escribiendo con normalidad.

En 1996, fue catalogado por grupos radicales islámicos como “hereje” y sentenciado a muerte, por lo que se mantuvo prácticamente recluido en su hogar, con salidas esporádicas y con vigilancia policial.

Muerte

Naguib muere en agosto de 2006 a la edad de 94 años derivado de multiples complicaciones de salud.

Fuente: Wikipedia

[litandlifequotes]

Beauty itself is a painful convulsion in the heart, an abundance of vitality in the soul, and a made chase undertaken by the spirit until it encounters the heavens.

Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz

[onenakedfarmer]

NAGUIB MAHFOUZ Rhadopis of Nubia

A crazy country, choking air, polluted hearts, treachery. Treachery and treason.

[wellconstructedsentences]

The problem's not that the truth is harsh but that liberation from ignorance is as painful as being born. Run after truth until you're breathless. Accept the pain involved in re-creating yourself afresh. These ideas will take a life to comprehend, a hard one interspersed with drunken moments.

Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

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[arnaultcavalcanti]

I dare say that perusing a magnum opus is akin to beholding a commendable intellect. Yet, when one delves into the life of a sentient being, it is as though one's soul is elevated to the heavens. This must mirror the process undertaken by Naguib Mahfouz, the illustrious Egyptian author who conjured life within his own celestial garden, with the Cairo Trilogy as his botanical masterpiece. Presently, I am engrossed in the first volume, "Palace Walk." As a Bengali, I am intimately acquainted with "Pather Panchali," a dynamic magnum opus crafted by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. This work persistently lingered in my thoughts as I commenced reading Mahfouz's "Palace Walk." I endeavoured to recall the myriad memories associated with our journey through "Pather Panchali." Rather than noting mere resemblances, I prefer to underscore the shared themes of livelihood, familial bonds, and communal relationships. Despite a particular family's struggles within the confines of their specific religious society, which adheres rigidly to its doctrinal norms, the inexorable march of life continues. Nevertheless, individuals must discern their true desires as a family, their intrinsic needs, and what they genuinely seek from their community, which has become an ornament of grievances. They find themselves unable to discard it, yet bereft of it, they are left with naught.

[catmint1]

Fear does not prevent death, but it prevents life.

—Naguib Mahfouz, Awlad Al-Hartna