Naguib Mahfouz Quote

Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (Arabic: نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, IPA: [næˈɡiːb mɑħˈfuːzˤ]; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. Mahfouz is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers in Arabic literature, along with Taha Hussein, to explore themes of existentialism. 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 mentions the lane, which equals the world. His most famous works include The Cairo Trilogy and Children of Gebelawi. Many of Mahfouz's works have been made into 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 realist literature, existential themes appear in it.
Naguib Mahfouz's literary career is intertwined with the history of the modern novel in Egypt and the Arab world. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Arabic novel took its first steps in a society and culture that discovered this literary genre through the translation of European novels from the nineteenth century. However, for Naguib Mahfouz, a society as strong and ancient as Egyptian society, having preserved ancient traditions while modernizing, could absorb and incorporate, without fear, some aspects of Western culture. Because this writer listened, above all, in his work, to this Egyptian people, to their intimate adventures and their history.
Naguib Mahfouz's novels are characterized by a classic narrative style, characterized by a focus on portraying characters and situations in a very realistic way, with an emphasis on customs, traditions, and social values ​​in Egyptian society, and the accurate embodiment of daily life in Egypt. Naguib Mahfouz also uses the style of the internal novel, which allows the reader to view the world through the eyes of a central character in the novel. Naguib Mahfouz's style is also characterized by manipulating time and focusing on the changes that occur in events and people over time.