Naguib Mahfouz, RIP
Nobel prize-winning Arabic novelist and short story writer Naguib Mahfouz is dead at 94.
Do yourself a favor and read him. If you want a window on Arab culture, forget the posturing politicians (who mostly actually work in English and French), and the American pundits who interpret the Arab world to us without knowing Arabic or having lived in the Arab world (sort of as though Aljazeera's correspondent who reported on Washington, DC, government affairs did not know English and had never visited the United States; believe me, it would not happen.)
Read Mahfouz.
I suggest you start with Midaq Alley, set in a fast-changing lower middle class neighborhood of Cairo during the British occupation of World War II. If you ever wondered what the Egyptians were thinking as Montgomery duelled Rommel, here is the most painless way possible to find out. The characters alone, and they are characters, are worth the price of admission.
posted by Juan Cole @ 8/31/2006 12:33:00 AM
Click to join Infoco
9 Comments:
Dear Professor Cole
When people are looking for something else to read after they finish the Cairo trilogy they might try
The Yacoubian Building
I was given it as a present and started reading it on the plane from Egypt. Its focus on sex is startling. Its pen pictures of a society are riveting. It is impossible not to empathise with at least one of the characters.
Ala al Aswany is great fun.
It is astonishing to find how much great Arabic literature is virtually unknown in US and UK.
Dear Prof. Cole,
Thank you for your kind words about Naguib Mahfouz. May he rest in peace. He was a wonderful author, and you are right, everyone who reads your blog and hasn't read MIDAK ALLEY needs to go out right now and get it. I have read all the Cairo trilogy and a good number of his other books, and it is a little like walking through old Cairo.
Peace,
Romi Elnagar
AUSTRALIA HAS AN OVERSEAS SPOUSE QUOTA FIXED AT 30,000 A YEAR
—————————————
PHILIP RUDDOCK is now Australia's Attorney General.Philip Ruddock is also known as the "Walking Cadaver."
—————————
The following is an article from the "Sydney Morning Herald"September, 17th, 1996.
"MIGRANT LAW MAY SEPARATE MARRIED COUPLES
The Government will cap and kill applications by Australians to bring their overseas spouses into Australia a move which would see long-term separations of married couples unless the Opposition allows through the Senate tough new measures to curb applications.
The Minister for Immigration, Mr Ruddock,said the draconian move,allowable under present law but never used in relation to spouses, would help curb huge increases in applications for spouses, some of which were shams, but others 'a fraud on Australians'.
Under present practise,applications for offshore spouses to come are allowed regardless of the quota set.Mr Ruddock wants to enforce his quota by a cap and queue regulation, making applicants after the qouta is reached to wait, possibly for months, until heading the queue for next years intake.
But in the face of Labor opposition in the Senate, he threatened to use his general cap and kill power to terminate applications made post-qouta.This would force Australians to apply again next year on equal terms with next year's applicants, causing indefinite separations.
Mr Ruddock's threat, which contradicts the Coalition's strong pro-family rhetoric but is part of a clampdown on migration numbers,was denounced by Labor's immigration spokeman, Mr Duncan Kerr, as social engineering.
The Opposition last week knocked off in the Senate one of several changes to regulations to tighten elegibility for 'preferential family' migration,available to spouses and aged parents.Mr Kerr told the Herald Labor would also disallow Mr Ruddock's 'cap and queue' regulation.
Mr Ruddock told the Herald that if people who had already applied were allowed in,the progam would overstep this year's 36,700 quota by about 13,000.Rather than allow an overshoot, he would use his general power under current law to cap and kill,unless Labor stopped trying to micro-manage his immigration program by disallowing regulations in the Senate.
Mr Kerr said that 'Australians have always exercised their own choice on who they'll marry,and I don't believe any red-blooded Australian will allow the Government to force couples to queue up to live together.Now he's saying if he can't queue them he'll cut them off.
'If you meet and marry in January,thats OK,but if you're a December bride or groom you mightn't be able to get your spouse in for years.'
Mr Ruddock said he did not regard cap and terminate as the best outcome, but if it is necessary I will be applying it.
He said Labor had maintained a steady 37,000 quota for four years,before lifting it last year to 50,000.Many people had reported partners 'walking out the door as soon as they arrive in Australia.' 'The fraud is being occasioned on Australians by people seeking to migrate,' he said.
Mr Kerr blamed the increase on the wash-up of the Tiananmen Square massacre,under which Labor granted 40,000 Chinese people refugee status.But Mr Ruddock said there rises in applications accross the board, and the percentage increase was as great in England."
------------------------------
JOHN HOWARD-The Lying Rodent.John Howard wants free trade but not the free movement of people.He thinks Australias biggest assets are its sheep, coal and uranium not people.He says he has the final solution to our problems "Too many people."
------------------------------
The Blacklist
"Philip Ruddock gazetted regulations when he was Australia's immigration minister[number S241 of 1997] to stop visitors from many countries coming to Australia and among them is Poland.[Israel is also on the list as well as the following countries-Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Fiji, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mauritius, Nauru, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Samoa, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tonga, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Vietnam and Yugoslavia]."
More at
http://nowhiteaustralia.blogspot.com/
The world has lost a giant, but at least God has agreed to share him with us thanks to the literary gifts he left us.
I would like to recommend "The Journey of Ibn Fattouma by Mahfouz" as well.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385423349/menavista-20
A work of fiction might seem a strange way to introduce readers to the Middle East, but in The Journey of Ibn Fattouma Nobel prize winning author Naguib Mahfouz gives more insights into the Arab view of the world than many textbooks manage. Utilizing the metaphoric journeys of a young man struck with the travel bug, we see Ibn Fattouma travel through various countries representing different corners of the world and socio-political systems. From societies representing tribal Africa, to Eastern Europe, to America, and several other locations, Ibn Fattouma learns much but never seems quite able to find where the utopian land of Gebel can be found. The book is short, entertaining, and a fascinating insight into how Arab society sees the rest of the world. From Ibn Fattouma's perspective, no society escapes criticism or praise, all have their benefits and drawbacks, and all leave him hungrier than ever for the ideal society that always seems just beyond his reach.
I did read Naguib Mahfouz's novels when I first moved to Cairo in 1989, and felt they gave me an excellent insight into the amazingly strange culture I had entered and went on to live in for 8 years.
Midaq Alley, The Cairo Trilogy, and perhaps my favorite, Respected Sir (memories of waiting in line at the Mugamma, what a flashback!) - all great books.
These books helped change my attitude towards Egypt and Arabic culture and to some extent Islam as well - certainly in a positive way.
It's too bad most Americans can't/don't get a more balanced view of the Middle East, an area of the world which is of crucial importance to America's future.
I read Naguib Mahfouz's "Cairo Trilogy" shortly after he received his Nobel prize for literature. His description of the city and characters was wonderful, so real that I almost groaned when the "bad" son made appearance after appearance, always wreaking havoc wherever he went.
I read it in English in a very good translation. Unfortunately, I would not be able to appreciate what people say was his masterful grasp and beautiful use of Arabic. Better a good translation that not reading it all, I suppose.
I have read Midaq Alley and I will read it again. It was excellent.
Found a free copy of _Paradise Walk_ and read it a few months ago then passed it on to a female friend. Mahfouz is indeed a fine writer. I found the book extremely interesting in revealing the depradations of patriarchy and the layers of attitudes between the sexes and the generations. Lots to think about.
My female friend enjoyed the novel in how it dealt with the different body images and types of the women (and men).
Just found the other two books in the Cairo Trilogy, again for free, and will pass them on to my friend before I read them but I look forward to spending some more time in that world.
During the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, my sister recommended reading _The Bridge on the Drina_ by Ivo Andric and one incident in that book, a Jew and a Christian, both young idealistic men, talking on the bridge about what has brought them together and what will inevitably tear them apart gave me more context for that struggle than anything else I read or saw.
A good storyteller tells lies that tell the truth better than the most accurate report of actual facts can.
The first Arab fiction writer I ever read. Midaq Alley was the book.
Naguib Mahfouz----Allah yarhamu.
Post a Comment
<< Home