Historical Figure
Naguib Mahfouz
1911–2006
Egyptian writer (1911–2006)
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Biography
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha 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 Egyptian narrative art that applies to all mankind".
Timeline
The story of Naguib Mahfouz, told in moments.
Completes the Cairo Trilogy. Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street. Three generations of a Cairo family across three decades of Egyptian history. It takes him seven years. When it's done, the Arabic novel has a new standard.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The first Arabic-language writer to receive it. He's 76, still publishing, still sitting in the same Cairo cafe every week. He gives his acceptance speech by video because he doesn't travel.
Stabbed in the neck by an Islamist militant outside his home. He'd supported the Camp David Accords and written allegorical novels that offended fundamentalists. He survives but loses the use of his right hand. He dictates his remaining works.
Dies in Cairo at 94. He'd published 34 novels, over 350 short stories, and dozens of screenplays. He never moved from Cairo. The city returned the favor. Every alley he described is still there.
In Their Own Words (16)
It is something worth picking from the thrash-can the alluring experience of the working days.
Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657., 2010
According to Islamic principles, when a man is accused of heresy, he is given the choice between repentance and punishment.
Naguib Mahfouz in: Gary Dexter (2010) Poisoned Pens: Literary Invective Form Amis to Zola. p. 226, 2010
God did not intend religion to be an exercise club.
Attributed to Naguib Mahfouz in: Thorntize (2009) The Handbook of Wisdom and Delight. p. 121, 2009
You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.
Cited in: Michael J. Gelb (1996) Thinking for a change: discovering the power to create, communicate and lead. p. 96, 1996
Voices were blended and intermingled in a tumultuous swirl around which eddied laughter, shouts, the squeaking of doors and windows, piano and accordion music, rollicking handclaps, a policeman's bark, braying, grunts, coughs of hashish addicts and screams of drunkards, anonymous calls for help, raps of a stick, and singing by individuals and groups.
Mahfouz (1957) Palace of Desire Part II; Cited in Matt Schudel "Leading Arab Novelist Gave Streets a Voice" in: Washington Post, August 31, 2006, 1957
Artifacts (15)
if power is to be handed over then Jong Un is the best for it. He has superb phy...
at Jong Chul is too feminine in character, while Jong Un is "exactly like his father". Furthermore, Fujimoto stated that "if power is to be handed over then Jong Un is the best for it. He has superb...
Imbuing the whole society with Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is the highest programm...
is father's old seat on the Politburo Presidium. In a speech made prior to the Conference, Kim Jong Un declared that "Imbuing the whole society with Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is the highest programme...
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