A Naguib Mahfouz Page
A Naguib Mahfouz
Page
Naguib Mahfouz is one of the
foremost writers in modern Arabic literature. Born in the
al-Jamaliyya district of Cairo, Egypt, on December 11, 1911, he lived there until the age of six (or twelve, depending on biographer). He began his writing career at the age of 17. He was a student of philosophy, graduating in philosophy from the Univers
ity of Cairo in 1935. He turned away from a university career, working for
many years as a civil employee in the Ministries of Religious Affairs and
Culture, which posts afforded him time to pursue his writing. He is an
avid reader of many of the European and Russian classic writers,
including Balzac, Camus, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Tolstoy and Zola, but
above all, Proust. He has written more than 30 novels and many short
stories.
In 1988, Naguib Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He
still lives in cairo with his wife and daughters.
Published works
translated into English.
Palace Walk (Book 1 of the Cairo Trilogy)
(originally published in Arabic 1956)
Palace of Desire (Book 2 of the
Cairo Trilogy) (originally published in
Arabic 1957)
Sugar Street (Book 3 of the Cairo Trilogy) (originally
published in Arabic 1957)
Children of Gebelawi (originally published
in Arabic 1959)
The Beginning and the End (originally published in
Arabic 1956)
Adrift on the Nile (originally published in Arabic
1966)
The Journey of Ibn Fattouma (originally published in Arabic
1983)
Midaq Alley (originally published in Arabic 1947)
The
Harafish (originally published in Arabic 1977)
The Beggar (originally
published in Arabic 1965)
The Thief and the Dogs (originally
published in Arabic 1961)
Autumn Quail (originally published in
Arabic 1962)
Wedding Song (originally published in Arabic
1981)
The Search (originally published in Arabic 1964)
Fountain
and Tomb (originally published in Arabic 1975)
Miramar (originally
published in Arabic 1967)
The Time and the Place and other stories
(all of above publication dates taken from El-Enany, as
below)
Also now available, mainly in Anchor/Doubleday
paperbacks:
Respected Sir (originally published in Arabic
1975)
Arabian Nights and Days (originally published in Arabic
1982)
Books about Mahfouz and his writing
Naguib Mahfouz: the
pursuit of meaning - Rasheed El-Enany - Routledge, London, 1993.
A
critical analysis of Mahfouz's writings, together with a full biography.
from http://kmi.open.ac.uk/peterm/mahfouz.htm
Click
here for a photo of Naguib Mahfouz.
Back to my homepage.