يوميات مصرية

by William Golding, ويليام جولدنج, سمير محفوظ بشير (Translator)

A first-hand journal about the Goldings' travels through Egypt, soon after winning the Nobel Prize, living on a motor cruiser on the Nile. Nothing went quite as planned, but William Golding's vivid and honest account of what actually happened, and of what he saw and felt about ancient Egypt and the exasperations of the living present, will delight his innumerable admirers and everyone who visits Egypt.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Egypt, Africa, Memoir

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Sir William Gerald Golding was an Engish novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel Lord of the Flies (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, he was awarded the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage, the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature.

As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding was knighted in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I set my expectations too high in Sir William Golding, and therefore I found this a less than fulfilling read. I parked it mid book, and read a couple of other books before picking it up again, which for me is not a good sign - but not as bad as not picking it up again.

Golding set off to Egypt with his wife and a plan - to write a fantastic book about his travels in Egypt. He even pre-wrote some wonderful prose for some places - like Kom Ombo. This it seemed was a bad omen - as he didn't come close to reaching Kom Ombo, and his travel plans were thwarted, mainly by the speed of his travel by boat.

Unfortunately the book he planned to write did not pan out, and annoyingly, he seemed to lament it the whole time, often commenting in the text 'What will I be able to write about in my book?' and similar, every time something doesn't work out. This reaches a crescendo at the end of the book with some self pity:
P200
So it was back to the hotel again and an attempt on my part to pull things together. We had done most of the things we had set out to do, but really very inadequately. This was, I now saw, inherent in our situation. I had resisted the realisation for months but now had to accept that whatever I wrote would not be about Egypt, it would be about me...

Notwithstanding this, there were interesting parts within the book. Efforts to move outside the normal tourist route paid dividends in places like the (architect) Hassan Fathy's New Gourna - a town built by the Government (using innovative and low cost mud brick construction) in order to re-home the Gournawis people. The Gournawis were known as grave robbers, their houses built in the valleys of the West Bank, rumoured to be over the ancient Royal tombs, where they slowly extract relics, as well as producing replicas to sell on the tourist market. Golding visits the Gourna Head Man, as well as the town they never occupied, for which they give their reasons - but the suspicion is that they don't want to move off the tombs they are slowly robbing!

As well there is his trip by hired boat up the Nile with his hired crew. The relationships within the crew (their social standing in society setting this framework), and the interactions each had with Golding and his wife, and Golding frustration at not being in command are all interesting reading.

Hard to give an overall gauge, but for me this was 3 stars.

[مينا ساهر · Rating 3 out of 5]

ويليام جولدنج صاحب إله الذباب و الفائز بجائزة نوبل يعرض عليه أن يقوم برحلة لمصر ليكتب عنها كتاب.

اليوميات ليست ممتعة رغم بعض الملاحظات الذكية التي يدونها الكاتب. الكثير من التفاصيل بدا لي غير مهم و كأنها مكتوبة ليملأ ويليام جولدنج المزيد من الصفحات.
الرحلة النهرية التي يحكي عنها الكتاب عبارة عن مسيرة من أعطال المركب و نقص الوقود و فصول من الفهلوة المصرية المستفزة.

منذ أيام كنت أقرأ كتابا لتيموثي ميشيل حول حسن فتحي و تجربته. و للصدفة يحدثني ويليام جولدنج عنه أيضا و يلتقيه ليخبره حسن فتحي بأنه فشل تماما في مصر. و أن ما صنعه خلال عشرين عام و فشل، حاوله في المكسيك خلال عشرين يوم و نجح.

[Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

كان هذا الكتاب إقتراحاً من أحد الناشرين على المؤلف الفائز بنوبل عام 1983
فقد أولع المؤلف بمصر منذ نعومة أظافره بسبب كتابات رايدر هاجارد وكونان دويل فعشق الفراعنة وحضارتهم الخالدة وزار مصر سابقاً قبل هذة الرحلة
كانت فكرة الكتاب أن يستأجر مركباً نيلياً ويذهب به لأسوان ويسجل ملاحظاته ومشاهداته
لكن الرحلة كانت مملة للغاية كما وصفها جولدينج فلم يتسن له مشاهدة أي معالم مميزة إلا عندما نزل على البر بسبب إرتفاع شواطئ النيل فهو لم يرى إلا كل ما هو قبيح: مصانع الطوب الأحمر جنوب الجيزة ومصانع السكر في المنيا وقنا والغبار الذي يغطي كل شئ، حتى عندما عاد للقاهرة لم يرى سوى غابات خرسانية مصمتة بالطوب الأحمر، ناهيك عن المصاعب التى لا مبرر لها طوال الرحلة والمحرك الذي يئن طوال الوقت نافثاً عادم رمادي كثيف غالباً أسود مهبب أحيانا.
أبرز زياراته في الكتاب: ه يزيارته كأوكسرينخوس (البهنسا) بالمنيا وهي مدينة كانت ذات حضارة أيام البطالمة والغزاه الرومان وجد بها العديد من البرديات فكان يتخيل نفسه عالماً أثريا يكتشف برديات جديدة، ثم زيارته للفيوم وإنبهاره بترعة بحر يوسف وبحيرة قارون وبالفيوم ككل، ومدينة بركة السبع في الدلتا وكانت بعد إنتهاء الرحلة النيلية الرئيسية موضوع الكتاب.
وكان الغريب في الأمر أنه لم ينبهر بأي أثر مصري سوى هرم ميدوم فهو يراه أعظم من أهرام الجيزة ! ربما لأنه سلفهم المباشر.
ظهور شيخ المعماريين حسن فتحي في نهاية الرحلة بالأقصر (فلم يتسطع أن يواصل لأسوان) ومقابلته للمؤلف كان مميزاً فأنا لم أعرف عن حسن فتحي سوى اسمه فقط، أما ماذا فعل ؟؟
وفي زيارة له في القاهرة بعد العودة كان الرجل يتحدث بمرارة عن نجاحه في المكسيك خلال 23 يوماً وفشله في مصر على مدار 40 عاماً عن فلا كرامة لنبي في وطنه.
أعيب على المؤلف طبيعته الإنجليزية الباردة المتعالية على الناس، ربما لم يظر سلوكاً متعالياً على طاقم المركب أو على من قابلهم خلال رحلته، لكنه لم يكلف نفسه عناء تعلم بعض العربية والتواصل مع أي أحد أو تكوين أي صداقات، كما أنه حشا الكتاب حشواً بسفاسف الأمور فتقريبا ثلث الكتاب كان عن المركب والمحرك وظروف الرحلة وأفراد الطاقم ... إلخ، فلم أشعر أن كتاب رحلات بالمعنى التقليدي.
عموماً هي تجربة لطيفة أن ترى بلدك بمنظور أجنبي

[Khaled · Rating 3 out of 5]

اعتقد اسم يوميات قارب خردة يكون أفضل

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fascinating book, it tells of the author, William Golding's journey into Egypet with his wife Ann and a motley assortment of people he takes on as crew of the boat the Hani up the river Nile, a fascinating insight into the more modern world of Egypt with lots of references to its history, told with charm and humour and was a refreshing and totally different take on a travelogue by seeing Egypt from the quite limited confines of a boat.
Well worth reading.

[Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible tale of a journey through Egypt on a motor cruiser where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Outrageously funny and deeply knowledgeable and insightful from a master writer. A completely different side of William Golding perhaps best known for the horrific Lord of the Flies

[Mohamed Yehia · Rating 2 out of 5]

يغرق الكاتب في التفاصيل اليومية بشكل كبير فيهتم بموتور القارب أكثر من اهتمامه بالتعرف علي المصريين

[لبنى علاء · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب مثير للإهتمام، نظرتي للأشياء في مصر تغيرت نوعًا ما بعد قراءته، الكاتب كان قاسي بعض الشيء في أحكامه وبيغرق في تفاصيل فرعية ويتجاهل الهدف الرئيسي أحيانًا، لكن في المجمل كتاب جميل ويستحق القراءة.

[Vaishali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full disclosure : I didn’t read the entire book, but scanned it for any descriptions of archeological sites. As the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities surreptitiously destroys parts of the pyramids - like removing all the alabaster which lined pyramid tunnels - it’s even more important to read older eye witness accounts.

Alas, there was nothing to uncover in this rather sour and pessimistic travelogue from the 1950’s. Moreover, fans of YouTubers Ben Vanderkamp, Brien Foerster, and Jimmy Corsetti will laugh uncontrollably at the following paragraph :

“… I was up by the tombs on the fringe of the Western Desert. I saw, lying in a ditch near them, an ancient maul. This was a lump of stone, rounded so that it could be held… dolerite, from the shores of the Red Sea and twice as hard as granite. I began to pound solemnly at the red Aswan granite of the outcrop. To my surprise it cut easily. Before I tired I cut a groove a foot long and half an inch deep.”

As anyone on one of these tours can relate, hours of pounding a dolorite stone on granite yields gravely traces of dust, at best. The spheres were most likely ball-bearings used in transporting blocks or obelisks. Modern stone masons concur : ancient Egypt’s superfine workmanship could not have been done by primitive stone tools, chisels, or copper implements… but with power tooling.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took this with me on a trip to Canada last two weeks ago. It started out fairly interesting. Golding doesn't make tooling down the Nile on a boat sound like much fun. As the book progressed it didn't feel like much was happening, except for the boat frequently breaking down. Several times, as the book progressed, Golding confesses to the reader that he's not sure how he's going to get a book out of the journey. Then it was over. I left it in one of the places we stayed.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I would have liked it more if I read it in English, but still... it was written very direct. Very interesting if you´re interested in Egypt.

[Lise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more from William Golding. This was just plain boring.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

William Golding is one of the most-revered authors of 20th century prose,& his few non-fiction titles concentrate on his life-long fascination with the ancient world of classical gods & godesses,mythical places & fantastical events.This slow jaunt down the Nile ('The Nile is Egypt,& Egypt is the Nile')seems to be a late addition to his life's work,concentrating on the contrast between the people of the 'pharonic' times,all pyramids & papyrus, and the modern Egyptians,desperately trying to square the world with their wonky geometery & rampant prejudices.Golding nails the dilemma that he,like many western travellers,face when confronted by a distinctly underwhelming reality;the lower reaches of the Nile are very dull indeed! How can this lugubrious & muddy river have spawned one of the first great civilisations of Mankind? Even its bird-life,the Nile Kingfisher, is black-and-white! Golding's musings & philosophical asides are the spice in a fairly mundane account of the comings & goings of his disparate companions,& our guide rarely misses the chance for some mildly satirical pen-pictures of a cast of locals,from egregious officials to uncouth & unschooled patriarchs.His humour & good nature rarely desert Golding & his wife,Ann; though their evident exasperation with Egyptian plumbing & meal-times is laced through with a tolerant shrug.'Malesh',the natives say...'What can you do?!'.
I enjoyed this book..& I have now read practically all of Golding's oeuvre...landmarks on the literary horizon,still drawing readers to closer quarters with a man of both deceptive depth & all-encompassing width;a River Nile of a writer!

[Scribe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry Bill, I just couldn't make it past chapter 6. I picked this book up a few months after visiting Egypt - maybe I wanted to see how it had changed between Golding writing about it, and me visiting. After many years of it sitting around on the shelf and in boxes, I finally decided to have a go. But between the fairly drab journey, the rather uninspiring narrative, and an overwhelming sense that it could have been more interesting if the author stopped wishing he was somewhere else, I buckled.

2 stars. There were some minor amusing or interesting bits. But otherwise it was mostly about boats and bricks.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting description of his travels down the Nile.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only way I am going to be able to take a trip down the Nile any time soon.