Editing Naguib Mahfouz

{{Short description|Egyptian writer (1911–2006)}}
{{about|the novelist|the doctor|Naguib Pasha Mahfouz}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Naguib Mahfouz
| image            = Nagib Mahfouz.jpg
| caption          = Mahfouz in 1980s
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1911|12|11}}
| native_name      = نجيب محفوظ
| native_name_lang = ar
| birth_name       = Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha
| birth_place      = [[Cairo]], [[Khedivate of Egypt]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|2006|8|30|1911|12|11}}
| death_place      = [[Agouza]], [[Giza Governorate]], [[Egypt]]
| nationality      = [[Egyptians|Egyptian]]
| spouse           = {{marriage|Atiyatullah Ibrahim|1954}}
| children         = 2
| occupation       = [[Novelist]], [[screenwriter]], and [[playwright]]
| period           = 1932–2004
| genre            = [[Novel]], [[short story]]
| subject          = Egyptian Lane
| movement         = [[Literary realism]]
| notableworks     = ''[[Cairo Trilogy|The Cairo Trilogy]]'', ''[[Children of Gebelawi|Children of our Alley]]'', and ''[[The Harafish]]''
| awards           = [[File:EGY Order of the Nile - Grand Cordon BAR.png|30px]] [[Order of the Nile]]<br />[[File:Nobel Prize.png|20px]] [[Nobel Prize for Literature]]
| honorific_suffix = {{small|[[Order of the Nile|ON]]}}<br />{{small|[[Order of Merit (Egypt)|OME]]}}<br />{{small|[[Order of the Republic (Egypt)|ORE]]}}
}}

'''Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha''' ({{langx|ar|نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا}}, {{IPA|arz|næˈɡiːb mɑħˈfuːzˤ|IPA}}; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian [[writer]] who won the [[1988 Nobel Prize in Literature]]. In awarding the prize, the [[Swedish Academy]] described him as a writer "who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1988, Naguib Mahfouz Facts|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1988/mahfouz/facts/|website=NobelPrize.org|publisher=Nobel Media|access-date=5 October 2024}}</ref> Mahfouz is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers in [[Arabic literature]], along with [[Taha Hussein]], to explore themes of [[existentialism]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Haim Gordon|title=Naguib Mahfouz's Egypt: Existential Themes in His Writings|year=1990 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=0313268762}}</ref> He is the only Egyptian to win the [[Nobel Prize]] in Literature. He published 35 novels, over 350 short stories, 26 screenplays, hundreds of op-ed columns for Egyptian newspapers, and seven plays over a 70-year career, from the 1930s until 2004. All of his novels take place in Egypt, and always mention the lane which equals the world. His most famous works include ''[[Cairo Trilogy|The Cairo Trilogy]]'' and ''[[Children of Gebelawi]]''. Many of Mahfouz's works have been made into [[Egyptian cinema|Egyptian]] and foreign films; no Arab writer exceeds Mahfouz in number of works that have been adapted for cinema and television. While Mahfouz's literature is classified as [[Literary realism|realist]] literature, [[Existentialism|existential]] themes appear in it.<ref>{{cite book|author=حايم غوردون|title=مصر نجيب محفوظ: الثيمات الوجودية في كتاباته|year=1990 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=0313268762}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Mahfouz was born in a lower middle-class Muslim Egyptian family in [[Old Cairo]] in 1911. The first part of his compound given name was chosen in appreciation of the well-known obstetrician, [[Naguib Pasha Mahfouz]], who oversaw his difficult birth.<ref name="حياة نجيب محفوظ">[https://www.naguib-mahfouz.com/life.htm حياة نجيب محفوظ]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722130132/https://www.naguib-mahfouz.com/life.htm |date=22 July 2015}}</ref> Mahfouz was the seventh and the youngest child, with four brothers and two sisters, all of them much older than him. (Experientially, he grew up an "only child".) The family lived in two popular districts of Cairo: first, in the Bayt al-Qadi neighborhood in the Gamaleya quarter in the old city, from where they moved in 1924 to [[Abbassia|Abbaseya]], then a new Cairo suburb north of the old city, locations that would provide the backdrop for many of Mahfouz's later writings. His father, Abdel-Aziz Ibrahim, whom Mahfouz described as having been "old-fashioned", was a [[civil servant]], and Mahfouz eventually followed in his footsteps in 1934. Mahfouz's mother, Fatimah, was the daughter of Mustafa Qasheesha, an [[Al-Azhar]] sheikh, and although illiterate herself, took the boy Mahfouz on numerous excursions to cultural locations such as the [[Egyptian Museum]] and the [[Egyptian Pyramids|Pyramids]].<ref name="El-Enany7"/>

The Mahfouz family were devout Muslims and Mahfouz had a strict Islamic upbringing. In an interview, he elaborated on the stern religious climate at home during his childhood. He stated, "You would never have thought that an artist would emerge from that family."<ref name="El-Enany7">{{cite book|author=Rasheed El-Enany|author-link=Rasheed El-Enany|title=Naguib Mahfouz: The Pursuit of Meaning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hit7oPTOKf0C|date=25 June 1993|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-07395-0}}</ref>

The [[Egyptian Revolution of 1919]] had a strong effect on Mahfouz, although he was at the time only seven years old. From the window he saw British soldiers firing at the demonstrators in an effort to disperse them.<ref>Raymond Stock, A Mummy Awakens: The Pharaonic Fiction of Naguib Mahfouz, pg. 13-14</ref> According to Mahfouz, "You could say ... that the one thing which most shook the security of my childhood was the 1919 revolution", he later said.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

In his early years, Mahfouz read extensively and was influenced by Hafiz Najib, [[Taha Hussein]] and [[Salama Moussa]], the [[Fabian Society|Fabian]] intellectual.<ref name="paris">{{cite journal
|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2062/the-art-of-fiction-no-129-naguib-mahfouz|journal=The Paris Review|title=Naguib Mahfouz, The Art of Fiction No. 129|date=Summer 1992|author=Charlotte El Shabrawy|volume=Summer 1992|issue=123}}</ref>

After completing his secondary education, Mahfouz was admitted in 1930 to the [[Egyptian University]] (now [[Cairo University]]), where he studied [[philosophy]], graduating in 1934. By 1936, having spent a year working on an M.A. in philosophy, he decided to discontinue his studies and become a professional writer. He published his first work in ''[[Al Majalla Al Jadida]]'', a magazine started by [[Salama Moussa|Salama Musa]] in 1929.<ref name=sab>{{cite journal|author=Sabry Hafez|title=Cultural Journals and Modern Arabic Literature: A Historical Overview|journal=Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics|date=2017|issue=37|jstor=26191813|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26191813|page=23}}</ref> Mahfouz then worked as a journalist for ''[[Arrissalah]]'', and contributed short stories to ''[[Al-Hilal (magazine)|Al-Hilal]]'' and ''[[Al-Ahram]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hafez |first=Sabry |date=2017 |title=Cultural Journals and Modern Arabic Literature: A Historical Overview |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26191813 |journal=Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics |volume=37 |pages=9–49 |jstor=26191813 }}</ref>

== Civil service ==
After receiving his bachelor's degree in philosophy from [[Cairo University]] in 1934, Mahfouz joined the Egyptian civil service, where he continued to work in various positions and ministries until retirement in 1971. He served first as a clerk at Cairo University, then, in 1938, in the [[Ministry of Awqaf (Egypt)|Ministry of Islamic Endowments (Awqaf)]] as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Islamic Endowments. In 1945, he requested a transfer to the [[Sultan Al-Ghuri Complex|al-Ghuri Mausoleum]] library, where he interviewed residents of his childhood neighborhood as part of the "Good Loans Project".<ref>El-Enany, Rasheed. "Naguib Mahfouz: His Life and Times". [[Cairo]]:AUC Press, 2007. pp 170–174</ref> In the 1950s, he worked as Director of Censorship in the Bureau of Arts, as Director of the Foundation for the Support of the Cinema, and finally as a consultant to the [[Ministry of Culture (Egypt)|Ministry of Culture]].<ref name="nobel">{{cite book|author1=Tore Frängsmyr|author2=Sture Allén|title=Nobel Lectures: Literature, 1981–1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrSuBE6OckgC&pg=PA121|access-date=26 September 2012|year=1993|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-02-1177-6|page=121}}</ref>

== Writing career ==
[[File:Naguib Mahfouz in 1960s.jpg|thumb|upright|Mahfouz in 1960s]]
Mahfouz published 34 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of screenplays, and five plays over a 70-year career. Possibly his most famous work, [[Cairo Trilogy|''The Cairo Trilogy'']], depicts the lives of three generations of different families in Cairo from [[Eastern Front (World War I)|World War I]] until after the [[Egyptian revolution of 1952|1952 military coup]] that overthrew [[Farouk of Egypt|King Farouk]]. He was a board member of the publisher ''Dar el-Ma'aref''. Many of his novels were serialized in ''Al-Ahram'', and his writings also appeared in his weekly column, "Point of View". Before the Nobel Prize only a few of his novels had appeared in the West.<ref name="stock">{{cite news |last1=Stock |first1=Raymond |title=Naguib Mahfouz and the Nobel Prize: A Blessing or a Curse? |url=https://www.meforum.org/naguib-mahfouz-and-the-nobel-prize-a-blessing-or |work=The Georgia Review |date=11 December 2018}}</ref>

=== 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'']].

=== Political influence ===
Most of Mahfouz's writings deal mainly with politics, a fact he acknowledged: "In all my writings, you will find politics. You may find a story which ignores love or any other subject, but not politics; it is the very axis of our thinking".<ref name="El-Enany23">Rasheed El-Enany, ''Naguib Mahfouz: The Pursuit of Meaning'', Routledge, 1992, p. 23.</ref>

He espoused [[Egyptian nationalism]] in many of his works, and expressed sympathies for the post-World-War-era [[Wafd Party]].<ref name="paris"/> He was also attracted to socialist and [[democratic ideals]] early in his youth. The influence of socialist ideals is strongly reflected in his first two novels, ''Al-Khalili'' and ''New Cairo'', as well as many of his later works. Parallel to his sympathy for socialism and democracy was his [[antipathy]] towards [[Islamic extremism]].<ref name="aucp"/>

In his youth, Mahfouz had personally known [[Sayyid Qutb]] when Qutb was showing a greater interest in [[literary criticism]] than in [[Islamic fundamentalism]]; Qutb later became a significant influence on the [[Muslim Brotherhood]]. In the mid-1940s, Qutb was one of the first critics to recognize Mahfouz's talent, and by the 1960s, near the end of Qutb's life, Mahfouz even visited him in the hospital. But later, in the semi-autobiographical novel ''[[Mirrors (novel)|Mirrors]]'', Mahfouz drew a negative portrait of Qutb. He was disillusioned with the [[Egyptian revolution of 1952|1952 revolution]] and by Egypt's defeat in the 1967 [[Six-Day War]]. He had supported the principles of the revolution, but became disenchanted, saying that the practices failed to live up to the original ideals.

Mahfouz's writing influenced a new generation of Egyptian lawyers, including Nabil Mounir and Reda Aslan.<ref name="El-Enany23"/>

=== Reception ===
Mahfouz's translated works received praise from American critics:

"The alleys, the houses, the palaces and mosques and the people who live among them are evoked as vividly in Mahfouz's work as the streets of London were conjured by Dickens."
—''[[Newsweek]]''<ref name="aucp"/>

"Throughout Naguib Mahfouz's fiction there is a pervasive sense of metaphor, of a literary artist who is using his fiction to speak directly and unequivocally to the condition of his country. His work is imbued with love for Egypt and its people, but it is also utterly honest and unsentimental."
—''[[Washington Post]]''<ref name="aucp"/>

"Mahfouz's work is freshly nuanced and hauntingly lyrical. The Nobel Prize acknowledges the universal significance of [his] fiction."
—''[[Los Angeles Times]]''<ref name="aucp"/>

"Mr. Mahfouz embodied the essence of what makes the bruising, raucous, chaotic human anthill of Cairo possible."
—''[[The Economist]]''<ref name="aucp"/>

==== Nobel Prize for Literature ====
Mahfouz was awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Arab writer to have won the award. Shortly after winning the prize Mahfouz was quoted as saying:
{{Blockquote|The Nobel Prize has given me, for the first time in my life, the feeling that my literature could be appreciated on an international level. The Arab world also won the Nobel with me. I believe that international doors have opened, and that from now on, literate people will consider Arab literature also. We deserve that recognition.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Luxner |first=Larry |date=March–April 1988 |title=A Nobel for the Arab Nation |url=https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/198902/a.nobel.for.the.arab.nation.htm |magazine=Aramco World |location=Houston |publisher=Aramco Services Company |access-date=June 21, 2020 }}</ref>}}

The Swedish letter to Mahfouz praised his "rich and complex work":

{{Blockquote|[It] invites us to reconsider the fundamental things in life. Themes like the nature of time and love, society and norms, knowledge and faith recur in a variety of situations and are presented in thought-provoking, evocative, and clearly daring ways. And the poetic quality of your prose can be felt across the language barrier. In the prize citation you are credited with the forming of an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind.<ref>{{cite web|title=Award Ceremony Speech|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1988/presentation-speech.html|website=Nobel Prize.org|publisher=Nobel Media|access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref>}}

Because Mahfouz found traveling to Sweden difficult at his age, he did not attend the award ceremony.

=== Political involvement ===
Mahfouz did not shrink from controversy outside of his work. As a consequence of his support for Sadat's [[Camp David Accords|Camp David peace treaty]] with Israel in 1978, his books were banned in many Arab countries until after he won the Nobel Prize. Like many Egyptian writers and intellectuals, Mahfouz was on an Islamic fundamentalist "death list".

He defended British-Indian writer [[Salman Rushdie]] after Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] condemned Rushdie to death in a 1989 [[The Satanic Verses controversy|fatwa]], but also criticized Rushdie's novel ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' as "insulting" to Islam. Mahfouz believed in [[Freedom of speech|freedom of expression]], and, although he did not personally agree with Rushdie's work, he spoke out against the ''fatwa'' condemning him to death for it.

In 1989, after Ayatollah Khomeini's ''fatwa'' calling for Rushdie and his publishers to be killed, Mahfouz called Khomeini a terrorist.<ref>{{cite news|author=Deseret Morning News editorial |title=The legacy of a laureate |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20060907/ai_n16725709 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628114203/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20060907/ai_n16725709 |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 June 2009 |work=Deseret News |date=7 September 2006 |access-date=20 September 2007 }}</ref> Shortly after, Mahfouz joined 80 other intellectuals in declaring that "no [[blasphemy]] harms Islam and Muslims so much as the call for murdering a writer."<ref>''Le Monde'', 8 March 1989</ref>

== Assassination attempt and aftermath ==
The publication of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' revived the controversy surrounding Mahfouz's novel ''[[Children of Gebelawi]]''. Death threats against Mahfouz followed, including one from the "blind sheikh", Egyptian-born [[Omar Abdel-Rahman]].  Mahfouz was given police protection, but in 1994 an extremist succeeded in attacking the 82-year-old novelist by stabbing him in the neck outside his Cairo home.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5297470.stm|work=BBC News|title=President pays tribute to Mahfouz|date=30 August 2006}}</ref>

He survived, permanently affected by damage to nerves of his right upper limb. Sixteen people were put on a military trial, and two of them received death penalty and eventually hanged. After the incident, Mahfouz was unable to write for more than a few minutes a day and consequently produced fewer and fewer works. Subsequently, he lived under constant bodyguard protection. Finally, in the beginning of 2006, the novel was published in Egypt with a preface written by Ahmad Kamal Aboul-Magd. After the threats, Mahfouz stayed in Cairo with his lawyer, Nabil Mounir Habib. Mahfouz and Mounir would spend most of their time in Mounir's office; Mahfouz used Mounir's library as a reference for most of his books. Mahfouz stayed with Mounir until his death.<ref name="nobelprize">{{cite web|title=Naguib Mahfouz – Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1988/mahfouz-bio.html|website=nobelprize.org}}</ref><ref name="stock"/>

==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>

== Legacy ==
Mahfouz's legacy is considered a cornerstone of Modern Egyptian culture, his books are republished all the time,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-31 |title=53rd Cairo International Book Fair presents complete works of late international writer Naguib Mahfouz at competitive price |url=https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/112401/53rd-Cairo-International-Book-Fair-presents-complete-works-of-late |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=EgyptToday}}</ref> Cairo International Book Fair celebrated Mahfouz more than once.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DNE |date=2011-01-28 |title=Cairo International Book Fair to honor China, Naguib Mahfouz |url=https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2011/01/28/cairo-international-book-fair-to-honor-china-naguib-mahfouz/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Dailynewsegypt |language=en-US}}</ref> 

His books keep getting adapted into films and TV series in Egypt or internationally,<ref>{{Cite web |last=naira |title=Afrah al-Qobba: A spectacle of disappointment |url=https://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/07/18/feature/culture/afrah-al-qobba-a-spectacle-of-disappointment/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Mada Masr |language=en-US}}</ref> such as Mexican adaptation of [[Midaq Alley (film)|Midaq Alley]] starring Salma Hayek in 1995, and Egyptian TV series Afrah AlQoba,<ref>{{Citation |title=Afrah AlQoba |date=2016-06-06 |type=Crime, Drama, Music |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5908376/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cdt_t_3 |access-date=2025-01-05 |others=Saba Mubarak, Eyad Nassar, Jamal Soliman |publisher=Al Shorouk for Media Productions, JWT, Spinoza Productions}}</ref> Bayn El Samaa Wa El Ard<ref>{{Citation |title=Bayn El Samaa Wa El Ard |date=2021-04-13 |type=Drama |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14544758/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cdt_t_1 |access-date=2025-01-05 |others=Nada Musa, Bayoumi Fouad, Sawsan Badr |publisher=Synergy Films}}</ref> and Hadith Alsabah wa Almassaa<ref>{{Citation |title=Hadith Alsabah wa Almassaa |date=2001-11-15 |type=Drama, Fantasy |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3271318/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cdt_t_7 |access-date=2025-01-05 |others=Dalal Abdulaziz, Salwa Khattab, Ahmed Zaher |publisher=Adl Group}}</ref> among others. 

In 2019, Egyptian Ministry of Culture opened '''Naguib Mahfouz museum''' located in Old Cairo, near [[Wikala of al-Ghuri]], Muzz Street and [[Al-Azhar Mosque|Azhar mosque]], where most of Mahfouz novels take place, the museum have different collectibles from Mahfouz's life such as his hat, desk, photographs and his awards including Nobel Medal.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-15 |title=Egypt Opens Museum Commemorating Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/arts-culture_egypt-opens-museum-commemorating-nobel-laureate-naguib-mahfouz/6171903.html |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-31 |title=Naguib Mahfouz Museum: A cultural icon in the heart of Cairo that commemorates the Nobel laureate |url=https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/107402/Naguib-Mahfouz-Museum-A-cultural-icon-in-the-heart-of |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=EgyptToday}}</ref>

In 2021, Egyptian actor [[Ahmed Helmy]] announced that he's working on a biographical TV series about Mahfouz's life, Starring Helmy as Mahfouz and written by Abdelreheem Kamal. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-09 |title=Egypt's superstar Ahmed Helmy to embody iconic Naguib Mahfouz role in TV series |url=https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/96240/Egypt%E2%80%99s-superstar-Ahmed-Helmy-to-embody-iconic-Naguib-Mahfouz-role |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=EgyptToday}}</ref>

== Works ==
* A translation into Arabic of James Baikie's ''[[Ancient Egypt (Book)|Ancient Egypt]]'' (1932) مصر القديمة
* ''[[Whisper of Madness]]'' (1938) همس الجنون
* ''[[Khufu's Wisdom|Mockery of the Fates]]'' (1939) عبث الأقدار. His first full-length novel, translated title in English ''[[Khufu's Wisdom]]''.
* ''[[Rhadopis of Nubia]]'' (1943) رادوبيس
* ''[[The Struggle of Thebes]]'' (1944) كفاح طيبة
* ''[[Cairo Modern]]'' (1945) القاهرة الجديدة
* ''[[Khan al-Khalili (novel)|Khan al-Khalili]]'' (1945) خان الخليلي
* ''[[Midaq Alley (novel)|Midaq Alley]]'' (1947) زقاق المدق
* ''[[The Mirage (Mahfouz novel)|The Mirage]]'' (1948) السراب
* ''[[The Beginning and the End (novel)|The Beginning and the End]]'' (1949) بداية ونهاية
* ''[[Palace Walk]]'' (1956) بين القصرين (''[[Cairo Trilogy]]'', Part 1)
* ''[[Palace of Desire (novel)|Palace of Desire]]'' (1957) قصر الشوق (''[[Cairo Trilogy]]'', Part 2)
* ''[[Sugar Street (novel)|Sugar Street]]'' (1957) السكرية (''[[Cairo Trilogy]]'', Part 3)
* ''[[Children of Gebelawi]]'' (1959) أولاد حارتنا
* ''[[The Thief and the Dogs]]'' (1961) اللص والكلاب
* ''[[Autumn Quail]]'' (1962) السمان والخريف
* [[God's World: An Anthology of Short Stories|''God's World'']] (1962) دنيا الله
* ''[[Zaabalawi]]'' (1961) زعبلاوي
* ''[[The Search (novel)|The Search]]'' (1964) الطريق
* ''[[The Beggar (novella)|The Beggar]]'' (1965) الشحاذ
* ''[[Adrift on the Nile]]'' (1966) ثرثرة فوق النيل
* ''[[Miramar (novel)|Miramar]]'' (1967) ميرامار
* ''The Pub of the Black Cat'' (1969) خمارة القط الأسود
* ''[[A Story Without a Beginning or an Ending]]'' (1971) حكاية بلا بداية ولا نهاية
* ''The Honeymoon'' (1971) شهر العسل
* ''[[Mirrors (novel)|Mirrors]]'' (1972) المرايا
* ''[[Love in the Rain]]'' (1973) الحب تحت المطر
* ''[[The Crime (Mahfouz book)|The Crime]]'' (1973) الجريمة
* ''[[Karnak Café (novel)|Karnak Café]]'' (1974) الكرنك
* ''[[Stories from Our Neighbourhood]]'' (حكايات حارتنا (1975
* ''[[Respected Sir]]'' (1975) حضرة المحترم
* ''[[The Harafish]]'' (1977) ملحمة الحرافيش
* ''[[Love above the Pyramid Plateau]]''  (1979) الحب فوق هضبة الهرم
* ''[[The Devil Preaches]]'' (1979) الشيطان يعظ
* ''[[Arabian Nights and Days]]'' (1979) ليالي ألف ليلة
* ''[[Love and the Veil]]'' (1980) عصر الحب
* ''[[Wedding Song (novel)]]'' (1981)  (also known as Joys of the Dome) أفراح القبة
* ''I Saw, in a Dream'' (1982), including the short story "[[Qismati and Nasibi]]" (My Fate and My Destiny)
* ''[[One Hour Remains]]'' (1982; also published in translation as ''The Final Hour'') الباقي من الزمن ساعة
* ''[[The Journey of Ibn Fattouma]]'' (1983) رحلة ابن فطومة
* ''[[Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth]]'' (1985) العائش فى الحقيقة
* ''[[The Day the Leader was Killed]]'' (1985) يوم مقتل الزعيم
* ''[[The Hunger (Mahfouz novel)|The Hunger]]'' (''[[Al-Go'a]]'') (1986) الجوع
* ''[[Please and Your Kindness]]'' (1986) من فضلك وإحسانك
* ''[[Morning and Evening Talk]]'' (1987) حديث الصباح والمساء
* ''[[The False Dawn]]'' (1988) الفجر الكاذب
* ''[[The Coffeehouse]]'' (1988)
* ''[[Echoes of an Autobiography]]'' (1994) أصداء السيرة الذاتية
* ''[[Echoes of Forgetness]]'' صدى النسيان (1999)
* ''[[Dreams of the Rehabilitation Period]]'' (2004) أحلام فترة النقاهة
* {{citation|last= Mahfouz |first= Naguib |author-mask = 2|translator-first= Sabbar S. |translator-last= Sultan |title= The Situation of the Novel |journal = World Literature Today| volume= 79 |number= 2 |year= 2005 |pages= 46–47 |jstor= 40158674|doi= 10.2307/40158674 }}
* ''[[The Seventh Heaven]]'' (2005)
* ''[[Dreams of Departure]]'' (2007; posthumous translation)
* ''[[Before the Throne (novel)|Before the Throne]]'' (2009; posthumous translation) أمام العرش
* ''[[In the Time of Love]]'' (2010; posthumous translation)
* ''[[Heart of the Night (novel)|Heart of the Night]]'' (2011; posthumous translation), also adapted in [[Heart of the Night (film)|a 1989 film]].
* ''The Quarter'' (short stories, 2019; posthumous translation)

== Honours ==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! style="width:80px;"| Ribbon bar !! Country !! Honour
|-
|  [[File:EGY Order of the Nile - Grand Cordon BAR.png|70px]] || Egypt || Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Nile]]
|-
| [[File:EGY Order of the Republic - Grand Cordon BAR.png|70px|border|class=noviewer]] || Egypt || Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Republic (Egypt)|Order of the Arab Republic of Egypt]]
|-
| [[File:EGY Order of Merit - Grand Cross BAR.png|70px]] || Egypt|| Grand Cross of the [[Order of Merit (Egypt)]]
|-
| [[File:Orden al Mérito Docente y Cultural Gabriela Mistral (Chile).gif|Orden al Mérito Docente y Cultural Gabriela Mistral (Chile)|70px]] || Chile || First Class of the [[Order of Educational and Cultural Merit Gabriela Mistral]]
|-
|-
| [[File:Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commandeur ribbon.svg|Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commandeur ribbon|70px]] || France || Commandeur of [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
|-
| [[File:Grande ufficiale OMRI BAR.svg|Grande ufficiale OMRI BAR|70px]] || Italy || Grand officier of [[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic]]
|-
| [[File:TN Order Merit Rib.png|TN Order Merit Rib|70px]] || Tunisia || Grand Cordon of the [[National Order of Merit (Tunisia)|National Order of Merit of Tunisia]]
|}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Somekh |first=Sasson |authorlink=Sasson Somekh |title=The Changing Rhythm: A Study of Najib Mahfuz's Novels |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=1973}}
==See also==
* [[List of Egyptian authors]]
* [[List of African writers]]
* [[The Beginning and the End (1960 film)|''The Beginning and the End '']]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Naguib Mahfouz}}
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070825155321/http://www.aucpress.com/t-aboutnm.aspx?template=template_naguibmahfouz Naguib Mahfouz on his English publisher's website]
* [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1988/mahfouz-article.html Naguib Mahfouz – The Son of Two Civilizations] at Nobel Prize website
* {{Nobelprize}}
* {{Books and Writers |id=mahfouz |name=Naguib Mahfouz}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5297470.stm BBC Obituary]
* [http://en.qantara.de/content/the-100th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-naguib-mahfouz-the-egyptian-seismograph The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Naguib Mahfouz] at Qantara.de
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141107190929/http://www.aucpress.com/images/Mahfouz_brochure_2011__LowRes.pdf Mahfouz Centennial Celebrations 2011] at The American University in Cairo Press
{{Naguib Mahfouz}}
{{Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1988 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Egyptian writers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahfouz, Naguib}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Egyptian male short story writers]]
[[Category:Egyptian nationalists]]
[[Category:Egyptian Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Egyptian socialists]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:Cairo University alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Cairo]]
[[Category:20th-century Egyptian novelists]]
[[Category:Egyptian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Egyptian short story writers]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Muslim socialists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Cairo]]