Editing Naguib Mahfouz (section)

=== Writing style and themes ===
Most of Mahfouz's early works were set in [[Cairo]]. ''Abath Al-Aqdar (Mockery of the Fates)'' (1939), ''Rhadopis'' (1943), and ''Kifah Tibah (The Struggle of Thebes)'' (1944) were historical novels written as part of a larger unfulfilled 30-novel project. Inspired by [[Sir Walter Scott]] (1771–1832), Mahfouz planned to cover the entire [[history of Egypt]] in a series of books. However, following the third volume, his interest shifted to current settings and issues, as well as the psychological impact of [[social change]] on ordinary people.<ref name="aucp">{{cite web|title=Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006)|url=http://www.aucpress.com/t-aboutnm.aspx|website=The American University in Cairo Press|publisher=AUC Press|access-date=26 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602051825/http://www.aucpress.com/t-aboutnm.aspx|archive-date=2 June 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Mahfouz's [[prose]] is characterised by the blunt expression of his ideas. His written works cover a broad range of topics, including the controversial and taboo such as [[socialism]], homosexuality, and God. Writing about some of these subjects was prohibited in Egypt.<ref name="aucp"/>

Mahfouz's works often deal with [[History of modern Egypt|Egypt's development during the 20th century]], and combined intellectual and cultural influences from both East and West. His own exposure to [[World literature|foreign literature]] began in his youth with the enthusiastic consumption of [[Detective fiction|Western detective stories]], [[Russian literature|Russian classics]], and [[Modernism|modernist writers]] as [[Marcel Proust]], [[Franz Kafka]] and [[James Joyce]]. Mahfouz's stories are almost always set in the heavily populated urban quarters of Cairo, where his characters, usually ordinary people, try to cope with the modernization of society and the temptations of [[Values (Western philosophy)|Western values]].<ref name="aucp"/>

Mahfouz's central work in the 1950s was the ''[[Cairo Trilogy]]'', which he completed before the [[Egyptian Revolution of 1952|July Revolution]]. The novels were titled with the street names ''[[Palace Walk]]'', ''[[Palace of Desire (novel)|Palace of Desire]]'', and ''[[Sugar Street (Cairo)|Sugar Street]]''. Mahfouz set the story in the parts of Cairo where he grew up. The novels depict the life of the patriarch el-Sayyed Ahmed Abdel Gawad and his family over three generations, from [[World War I]] until 1944. Mahfouz stopped writing for some years after finishing the trilogy.<ref name="stock"/>

Disappointed in the [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]] régime, which had overthrown the monarchy in 1952, he started publishing again in 1959, now prolifically pouring out novels, short stories, journalism, memoirs, essays, and screenplays.<ref name="aucp"/> He stated in a 1998 interview that he "long felt that Nasser was one of the greatest political leaders in modern history. I only began to fully appreciate him after he nationalized the [[Suez Canal]]."<ref>Hamad, Mahmoud. (2008) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lswOvpmvUwMC&q=Mahfouz&pg=PA95 When the Gavel Speaks: Judicial Politics in Modern Egypt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522022843/https://books.google.com/books?id=lswOvpmvUwMC&pg=PA95&dq=Non-Aligned+Movement+Nasser&hl=en&sa=X&ei=W0DKUc_WD_Gn4APb0YGYDg&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Mahfouz&f=false |date=22 May 2016 }}''. p. 96 (Hamad cites an interview of Mahfouz by ''[[Al-Ahram Weekly]]'' in September 1998.)</ref> His  non-fiction, including his journalism and essays and his writing on literature and philosophy, were published in four volumes from 2016.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mahfouz|first=Naguib|title=The Non-Fiction Writing of Mahfouz 1930–1994|publisher=Gingko Library|year=2020|isbn=9781909942523|location=London}}</ref>

His 1966 novel ''Tharthara Fawq Al-Nīl'' ([[Adrift on the Nile]]) is one of his most popular works. It was later made into a film called ''[[Chitchat on the Nile]]'' during the régime of [[Anwar al-Sadat]]. The story criticizes the decadence of Egyptian society during the Nasser era. It was [[List of books banned by governments|banned]] by [[Anwar Sadat|Sadat]] to avoid provoking Egyptians who still loved former president Nasser. Copies of the [[Book censorship|banned book]] were hard to find prior to the late 1990s.

The ''[[Children of Gebelawi]]'' (1959, also known as ''Children of the Alley''), one of Mahfouz's best known works, portrayed the patriarch Gebelaawi and his children, average Egyptians living the lives of [[Cain]] and [[Abel]], [[Moses]], [[Jesus]], and [[Mohammed]]. Gebelawi builds a mansion in an [[oasis]] in the middle of a barren desert; his estate becomes the scene of a family feud that continues for generations. "Whenever someone is depressed, suffering or humiliated, he points to the mansion at the top of the alley at the end opening out to the desert, and says sadly, 'That is our ancestor's house, we are all his children, and we have a right to his property. Why are we starving? What have we done?'" The book was [[Censorship in Islamic societies|banned throughout the Arab world]] except in [[Lebanon]] until 2006 when it was first published in Egypt. The work was prohibited because of its alleged [[Blasphemy law in Egypt|blasphemy]] through the [[Allegory|allegorical]] portrayal of God and the [[monotheistic]] [[Abrahamic]] faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and [[Islam]].

In the 1960s, Mahfouz further developed the theme that humanity is moving further away from God in his [[existentialism|existentialist]] novels. In ''[[The Thief and the Dogs]]'' (1961) he depicted the fate of a [[Marxism|Marxist]] thief who has been released from prison and plans revenge.<ref name="aucp"/>

In the 1960s and 1970s, Mahfouz began to construct his novels more freely and often used [[Internal monologue|interior monologues]]. In [[Miramar (novel)|''Miramar'']] (1967) he employed a form of multiple [[First-person narrative]]s. Four narrators, among them a Socialist and a [[Nasserism|Nasserite]] opportunist, represent different political views. In the center of the story is an attractive servant girl. In ''[[Arabian Nights and Days]]'' (1979) and in [[The Journey of Ibn Fattouma|''The Journey of Ibn Fatouma'']] (1983) he drew on traditional Arabic narratives as [[subtext]]s. [[Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth|''Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth'']] (1985) deals with conflict between old and new religious truths.

Many of his novels were first published in serialized form, including ''Children of Gebelawi'' and ''[[Midaq Alley (novel)|Midaq Alley]]'' which was also adapted into a [[cinema of Mexico|Mexican film]] starring [[Salma Hayek]] called [[Midaq Alley (film)|''El callejón de los milagros'']].