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Naguib Mahfouz

Biography

Naguib Mahfouz was born in 1911 in Cairo, the youngest of seven children. His father was a minor civil servant. He started writing at age seventeen and, at age nineteen, he entered Cairo University to study philosophy. He started writing a thesis on aesthetics but gave it up to focus on literature. In 1939 he joined the civil service, working particularly in the Ministry for Religious Affairs and then in the Ministry of Culture where he was responsible for film. He started writing in 1939 but temporarily gave up after the 1952 revolution.

اولاد حارتنا (Children of Gebelawi; Children of the Alley) was particularly controversial when it was serialised in 1959, as it was allegorical (unusual in Egyptian literature), was concerned with man’s quest for religion and had 114 chapters, the same number as the Koran. It was not published in book form till eight years later. Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize in 1988. In 1994 he was attacked and stabbed and only partially recovered. He is undoubtedly the major Arabic-speaking novelist. He died in 2006.

Other links

Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz (Nobel Prize citation)
Naguib Mahfouz (Nobel Prize biography)
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz: An Appreciation
Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006)
Naguib Mahfouz (1911-)
A Nobel for the Arab Nation
The Egyptian Seismograph
President pays tribute to Mahfouz
Obituary: Naguib Mahfouz
Obituary
Obituary
Interview
Mahfouz Centenary: 5 Thoughts on Translating the Master – Interview

Bibliography

1939عبثالأقدار (Mockery of the Fates; Khufu’s Wisdom)
1943 رادوبيس (Rhadopis of Nubia)
1944 كفاح طيبة (Thebes at War)
1945 القاهرةالجديدة (Cairo Modern)
1946 خان الخليلي (Khan al-Khalili)
1947 زقاق المدق (Midaq Alley)
1948 السراب (The Mirage)
1949 بداية ونهاية (The Beginning and the End)
1956 بينالقصرين (Palace Walk)
1957 قصر الشوق (Palace of Desire)
1957 السكرية (Sugar Street)
1961 اللص والكلاب (The Thief and the Dogs)
1962 السمان والخريف (Autumn Quail)
1962 اولاد حارتنا (Children of Gebelawi; Children of the Alley) (serialised in newspaper form in 1959)
1964 الطريق (The Search)
1965 الشحاذ (The Beggar)
1966 ثرثرةفوقالنيل (Adrift on the Nile)
1967 ميرامار (Miramar)
1971 المرايا (Mirrors)
1973 God’s World: an Anthology of Short Stories
1973 الحب تحت المطر (Love in the Rain )
1974 الكرنك (Al-Karnak; Karnak Café)
1975 حضرة المحترم (Respected Sir)
1975 قلب الليل (Heart of the Night)
1975 حكايات حارتنا (Fountain and Tomb)
1977 ملحمة الحرافيش (The Harafish)
1980 عصر الحب (In the Time of Love)
1981 ليالي ألف ليلة (Arabian Nights and Days)
1981 افراح القبة (Wedding Song)
1982 الباقي من الزمن ساعة (The Final Hour; also One Hour Remains)
1983 رحلة ابن فطومة (The Journey of Ibn Fatouma)
1983 أمامالعرش (Before the Throne)
1985 العائش في الحقيقة (Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth)
1985 يوم قتل الزعيم (The Day Leader Was Killed)
1986 الجوع (The Hunger)
1987 حديث الصباح والمساء (Morning and Evening Talk)
1988 قشتمر (The Coffeehouse)
1989 Naguib Mahfouz: One-Act Plays
1991 The Time and the Place and Other Stories
1994 أصداء السيرة الذاتي (Echoes of an Autobiography)
1999 صدى النسيان (Echoes of Foregiveness)
2001 Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber
2003 Voices from the Other World (stories)
2004 أحلام فترة النقاه (published in two parts: 1. The Dreams; 2. Dreams of Departure: The Last Dreams Published In The Nobel Laureate’s Lifetime)
2005 The Seventh Heaven
2006 قلب الليل (Heart of the Night)
2006 Life’s Wisdom: From the Works of the Nobel Laureate
2009 أمام العرش (Before the Throne)
2011 The Essential Naguib Mahfouz
2016 Essays of the Sadat Era: The Non-fiction Writing of Naguib Mahfouz
2019 The Quarter (stories)
2020 Early Mubarak Years 1982-1989 : The Non-fiction Writing of Naguib Mahfouz
2020 After The Nobel Prize 1989-1994 : The Non-fiction Writing of Naguib Mahfouz