Analysis of the Work of Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz is probably one of the best-known writers and novelists in the Arabic language. As Michelle Hartman (1997) pointed out in her analysis of one of MahfouzÆs novels, al-Liss waÆl kilub (The Thief and the Dog), this Egyptian writerÆs fame and reputation has grown on the international level since he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. In fact, Hartman (1997) considers Mahfouz to be the pioneer of the novel in the Arabic language; his career has spanned the entire range of novelistic development in the Arab world. This essay will examine several of MahfouzÆs novels, drawing upon the novels and critical commentary to describe his themes, his use of literary devices, and his place in the world of contemporary literature.
Mahfouz began his literary career by writing essays on philosophy and literature and only then moved to fiction as a genre of choice (Moosa, 1995). His work invariably draws upon his understanding of Egyptian life in the past, present, and future. His ideal society, according to critic Matti Moosa (1995), is a form of moderate socialism in which the main basis of life is science. He calls for freeing religion û certainly one of if not the most important social influence in Islamic countries û from superstition in order to improve human society through science. Sadly, this particular philosophy has angered many Islamic theologians. Mahfouz was actually stabbed by an impassioned critic of his work on a Cairo street; he survived, and continued to explore his philosophy in many new works.
Mahfouz created an extraordinary and large body of work. By 1997, when he was 85 years old, he had published some 30 or more novels and dozens of short stories which were translated into two dozen languages (Echoes of an autobiography, 1997). He is said to have chosen the novel as his genre over poetry û which has long been the primary focus of literatur...