Editing Naguib Mahfouz (section)

==Personal life==
Mahfouz remained a bachelor until age 43 because he believed that, with its numerous restrictions and limitations, marriage would hamper his literary future.<ref name="paris"/> "I was afraid of marriage . . . especially when I saw how busy my brothers and sisters were with social events because of it. This one went to visit people, that one invited people. I had the impression that married life would take up all my time. I saw myself drowning in visits and parties. No freedom."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=El Shabrawy|first=Charlotte|title=Naguib Mahfouz, The Art of Fiction No. 129|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2062/the-art-of-fiction-no-129-naguib-mahfouz|magazine=The Paris Review|access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref>

However, in 1954, he quietly married a [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic Orthodox]] woman from [[Alexandria]], Atiyyatallah Ibrahim,<ref>El-Enany, Rasheed. "Naguib Mahfouz: His Life and Times". [[Cairo]]:AUC Press, 2007. p 172</ref> with whom he had two daughters, Fatima and Umm Kalthum. The couple initially lived on a houseboat in the [[Agouza]] section of Cairo on the west bank of the [[Nile]], then moved to an apartment along the river in the same area. Mahfouz avoided public exposure, especially inquiries into his private life, which might have become, as he put it, "a silly topic in journals and radio programs."<ref name="aucp"/>

Mahfouz distinctly did not like to travel. [[Belgrade]] was one of the few cities to which he gladly went and he expressed great respect for [[Serbia]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Serbia|first=RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of|title=Нагиб Махфуз, нобеловац који није волео да путује, осим у Београд|url=http://www.rts.rs/page/magazine/ci/kulturno/story/3149/vest/4222952/nagib-mahfuz-adligat-srpsko-egipatsko-prijateljstvo.html|access-date=17 January 2021|website=www.rts.rs}}</ref>