The Life and Legacy of Naguib Mahfouz
By Kenzy Fahmy
Naguib Mahfouz is a man that needs little introduction. He has left a greater and more everlasting mark on Arabic literature than any other writer of our time, and his reflections on the many faces and facets of Egyptian society ring true until today, a testament to the authenticity of his insights. Mahfouz dedicated his life to writing about Egypt and the people who filled her streets, their customs and their burdens. His work is a window into the zeitgeist of a country undergoing immense change and into the deep-rooted social issues that lay hidden beneath.
Born in December, 1911 in the Gamaliya neighbourhood of Old Cairo, Mahfouz came from a stable and loving home and had a happy childhood living within the alleys of the city’s historic quarter, something that would come to greatly influence his work. Mahfouz would spend the rest of his life in Cairo, leaving Egypt only a handful of times.
He came from a deeply religious, middle-class family, his father a civil servant and his mother the daughter of a sheikh at Al-Azhar. In 1924, the family moved from their Gamaliya home to Abbaseya, a new suburb at the time. It was these neighborhoods that served as the backdrop for many of his stories, including The Cairo Trilogy and Children of the Alley. In fact, it has been said that he drew his inspiration for the family house in The Cairo Trilogy from his own family home in Old Cairo, just one of the many ways his adult life and work were a reflection of his childhood years.
Like his father, Mahfouz would also become a civil servant after completing his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at the Egyptian University (renamed Cairo University after the revolution in 1952). He first served as a clerk at the university before landing a job as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Islamic Endowments in 1938. In 1945, he transferred to the Ghuri Library where he ran the Good Loan Project, a program for the underprivileged to gain access to interest-free loans. He held a number of other positions from the 50s up to his retirement, including Director of Censorship for the Bureau of Arts and Director of the Foundation for the Support of Cinema.
Mahfouz spent most of his life as a bachelor, fearing that married life would distract him from his writing. But he finally married in 1954, at the age of 43, and had two daughters with his wife, Atiyyatallah Ibrahim.
35 novels, 26 movies scripts, 7 plays and over 350 short stories, not to mention countless columns for local newspapers, were written by him between the 1930s and 2004, a career that spanned over 70 years. His work was first translated into English by the AUC Press in the mid-1980s, a step that would see his writing cross borders and reach international acclaim. Mahfouz himself has even been quoted as saying that it was these first translations that led to his books being translated into other foreign languages and eventually to him winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988.
Mahfouz’ early work was mostly historic in context, and for a number of years he chose to write about Egyptian history; at some point he wanted to write an epic 30-book collection that would cover the country’s entire history, but this was eventually abandoned and his interests shifted to modern-day stories and issues. His later works dealt with a wide range of taboo subjects, from politics and religion to love and sexuality, a practice that was very strictly prohibited in Egypt, all set around the lives of ordinary Egyptians coming to terms with a changing world. Philosophy also played an important role in his writing, and he would consistently use his stories to contemplate life’s ultimate existential questions.
Mahfouz was spared any threats of arrest and endured very little censorship from the government, one of the very few writers of his time to do so. But in the 90s he did face death threats by religious extremists, followed by an attack on his life where he was stabbed in the neck outside his Cairo home. The Nobel laureate survived the attack but sustained permanent nerve damage to his right arm, making it increasingly difficult for him to write for more than a few minutes at a time. As a result of this, his later works were limited to short stories and anthologies, many of which were drawn from his dreams.
Naguib Mahfouz died in August, 2006 at the age of 94, leaving behind much more than a legacy. He changed the way many people view the world, Egypt especially, and encouraged people to ask questions and challenge the status quo, to understand why we are the way we are. He encouraged people to be honest and true, expressing his deeply held belief that this truth is what made the world so painfully beautiful. No other Egyptian author has had his work adapted for the screen as many times as Mahfouz, and no other Egyptian author has had his work published and translated so many times and in so many languages; he has left his mark not only here in Egypt, but also abroad, capturing forever and for everyone an authentic and incredibly intimate portrayal of Egypt and her people.
Mahfouz’s most notable works include The Cairo Trilogy (1956), Adrift on the Nile (1966), Children of the Alley (1959), Miramar (1967), The Harafish (1977), and Midaq Alley (1947).
For a full list of his published works in translation head to the AUC Press website