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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 April 2009
The writings of the Egyptian novelist Najib Mahfuz (b. 1911) in the 1960s illustrate the new literary trends that were then emerging in Arabic fiction. Among his works, the volume of short stories, Dunyā Allāh (God's World, 1963), was the first and perhaps the most important collection within the corpus of his creative works. These short stories are striking for the themes they pursue and the poetic universe they depict, and they reveal in particular his and the Egyptian reaction to progress. In this essay only one of these short stories, “Zaʿbalāwī,” will be discussed. My aim is to show Mahfuz's adept manipulation of mythic themes together with specific Egyptian cultural and Islamic elements in his exploration of the dilemma modernity poses for Egyptian society. “Zaʿbalāwī” was published at the beginning of a new period in his creative development when Mahfuz had begun to pursue his concerns using new and innovative literary techniques.
Author's note: I thank Professor Irene Eber of the Hebrew University for her useful comments. I am also extremely grateful to the anonymous readers who have helped me improve the text. Naturally I alone am responsible for any shortcomings.
1 For more details on Najib Mahfuz and his works, see in English Somekh, Sasson, The Changing Rhythm: A Study of Najib Maḥfūẓ's Novels (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973)Google Scholar; idem, “Zaʿbalāwī—Author, Theme and Technique,” Journal of Arabic Literature 1 (1970): 24–35CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Allen, Roger, The Arabic Novel, An Historical and Critical Introduction (Manchester: University of Manchester, 1982)Google Scholar; Milson, Menachem, “Najīb Maḥfūẓ and the Quest for Meaning,” Arabica 17 (1970): 155–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mahmoud, Fatma Moussa, The Arabic Novel in Egypt, 1914–1970 (Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization, 1973)Google Scholar; Boullata, Issa J., ed., Critical Perspectives on Modern Arabic Literature (Washington D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1980)Google Scholar; Jad, Ali B., Form and Technique in the Egyptian Novel 1912–1971 (London: Ithaca Press, 1983)Google Scholar. In Arabic, see Badr, ʿAbd al-Muḥsin Ṭāha, Najīb Maḥfūẓ: al-Ruʾyā wa-al-adāt (Cairo: Dār al-thaqāfa lil-ṭibāʿa wa-al-nashr, 1978)Google Scholar; Rāghib, Nabīl, Qaḍiyyat al-shakl al-fannī ʿinda Najib Maḥfḥẓ (Cairo: al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya al-ʿ āmma lil-kitāb, 1975)Google Scholar; Shukrī, Ghālī, al-Muntamī, dirāsafi adab Najib Maḥfūẓ, 3rd ed. (Beirut: Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīda, 1982)Google Scholar; idem, ed., Najīb Maḥfūẓ: lbdāʿ niṣf qarn (Cairo: Dār al-shurūq, 1989)Google Scholar; Qāsim, Ceza, Bināʾ al-riwāya, dirāsa muqārana li-thulāthiyyat Najīb Maḥfūẓ (Cairo: al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya al-ʿ āmma lil-kitāb, 1984)Google Scholar; al-Bandārī, Ḥasan, Fann al-qiṣṣa al-qaṣīra ʿinda Najīb Maḥfūẓ (Cairo: Maktabat al-Anglo al-Miṣriyya, 1988)Google Scholar; al-Aswad, Fāḍil, ed., al-Rajul wa-alqimma, buḥūth wa-diāsāt (Cairo: al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya al-ʿ āmma lil-kitāb, 1989)Google Scholar; ʿAwf, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Abū, al-Ruwā al-mutaghayyira li-riwāyāt Najīb Maḥfūẓ (Cairo: al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya al-āʿāmma lil-kitāb, 1991)Google Scholar.
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8 I use the English translation in Modern Arabic Short Stories, selected and translated by Johnson-Davis, Denys (London: Heinemann, 1981), 135–45Google Scholar.
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19 For an English translation of this novel, see Ghanem, Fathi, The Man Who Lost His Shadow, trans. Stewart, Desmond (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1980)Google Scholar.
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24 See Elad, Ami, “Fiction and Reality in Al-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ's ‘Dawmat Wad Ḥāmid,’ in Writer, Culture, Text, ed. Elad, Ami, 62–73Google Scholar.
25 For an English translation, see The Seven Days of Man, trans. Bell, Joseph Norment (Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization, 1989)Google Scholar.
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