Naguib Mahfouz (Arabic author profile: نجيب محفوظ) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Many of his works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films.
Mahfouz wordt in Nederland bijna niet meer gelezen. Da's jammer want zijn wat mysterieuze verhalen geven een miniatuur van het oosterse leven. Lotsbestemming, het gegeven leven, het gebrek aan individuele keuzes, vorm gegeven in mooie taal. Een genot om te lezen en hert laat vragen over.
Mooie collectie verhalen, maar ik mis de sprankel die ik wel vond in andere werken van Mahfouz. Ik denk dat het aan de vertaling ligt, die is stroef en artificieel, wat de Arabische taal geen eer aandoet.
The English translation of the Dutch title would be ‘The mosk in the alley’. These sixteen stories by Nagieb Mahfoez (in English Mahfuz or Mahfouz), the only Arabian Nobel prize winner for literature so far (2014), offer richness in atmosphere, whether it’s a description of a dream or thougts of his characters about the harshness of their fate, which can hardly be escaped. Next to fate is faith, because the author being Egyptian, so being muslim, religious connotations are omnipresent; there is a sort of mysticism, too. The stories are written in the 1940s and 1950s. Once in a while you read about the backdrop, sometimes that’s clearly around the Second World War. This book suits the purpose of getting pleasantly aquainted with Mahfoez very well. Recommended as such. JM