Nobel winner Mahfouz lives on in Cairo’s alleyways T
Egyptian writer is considered to be father of modern Arabic novel
he legacy of Islamic Cairo’s most famous son Naguib Mahfouz lives on in its winding lanes 21 years after he became the only Arab to win the Nobel Literature Prize.
A mosaic of the bespectacled author overlooks a market teeming with children on bikes, waiters balancing trays of hot drinks and shoppers haggling with hawkers over the price of meat.
It could be a scene straight out of a typical Mahfouz novel focusing on the minutiae of life in the Egyptian capital, with its satirically political overtones and timeless characters.
After years in the making, a museum in the writer’s honour opened in July this year.
Mahfouz is considered to be the father of the modern Arabic novel: he broadened its literary range by pushing through sacred red lines including religious taboos.
Cairo fascination
Mahfouz’s daughter Um Kalthoum said he was so deeply enmeshed in the chaotic energy of Cairo that the city itself was a major character in his work.
The writer’s routine included walks along the corniche by the Nile to his favourite cafes near Tahrir Square, epicentre of the 2011 revolution, and to cultural salons.
“He wrote about Cairo with true love. He described it in granular detail. Even if he criticised it, it was still full of love,” she told AFP.
Um Kalthoum said: “I remember sometimes we used to go to Al Hussain (the area around the Al Hussain mosque in the heart of Islamic Cairo) and we’d sit in the cafe bearing his name — the Naguib Mahfouz Cafe.
The site of the museum dedicated to him is in a beautifully restored Ottoman guesthouse in Islamic Cairo dating to 1774, and was chosen because he spent his early years there.
In the Al Gamaleya neighbourhood the budding writer was surrounded by 10th century walls and a myriad of hiding spots for curious kids.
Um Kalthoum noted that being raised there left an indelible mark on her father’s imagination.
Mahfouz’s precious belongings including his mahogany desk, honours such as his Nobel certificate and even his last pack of cigarettes are among the items displayed in an exhibition that covers three floors.
A universal writer
Roger Allen, emeritus professor at Penn University in the United States and a prolific translator of Arab writers but especially Mahfouz, told AFP the author was monumental “in the development of Egyptian fiction”. His writings delved into “ancient Egypt, Sufism, politics”, Allen said. “His works take on universal themes that show how to organise society and how it can be disrupted by forces.”