The Quarter: Stories

by Naguib Mahfouz, Elif Shafak (Foreword), Roger Allen (Translator)

Meet the people of Cairo's Gamaliya quarter. There is Nabqa, son of Adam the waterseller who can only speak truths; the beautiful and talented Tawhida who does not age with time; Ali Zaidan, the gambler, late to love; and Boss Saqr who stashes his money above the bath. A neighbourhood of demons, dancing and sweet halva, the quarter keeps quiet vigil over the secrets of all who live there. This collection by pre-eminent Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz was recently discovered among his old papers. Found with a slip of paper titled 'for publishing 1994', they are published here for the first time. Resplendent with Mahfouz's delicate and poignant observations of everyday happenings, these lively stories take the reader deep into the beating heart of Cairo.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Egypt, Classics, Middle East, Africa, Ebooks

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2019

About the author

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.

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of 18 very short stories discovered almost 20 years after the death of author Naguib Mahfouz (the Nobel Prize winner in 1988).

I've always wanted to read Mahfouz's acclaimed masterwork ("The Cairo Trilogy"— Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street) and having read this wonderful collection am now even more determined. I'll get there eventually.

These stories are deft and light, and despite being very short (at most 5 pages) are rich and resonant. Life in the quarter is chaotic, mysterious, cramped, and yet miraculously spacious.

Also included in this volume is Mahfouz's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and four of the stories in the original handwriting of the author. All this in less than 100 pages.

[Mridula Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to go back and read more about what people had to say about Mahfouz's writing because this book left me craving for more. 'The Quarter' is the metaphorical trailer we all love referring to, time and again in our statements.

There are 18 stories in this collection, found amongst Mahfouz's unpublished work and published after his death. These vignettes take us to the 'hara' or the quarter in Cairo, which seems to be a recurring thing in his books, the exploration of the community life. Mahfouz's observations are richly textured and he brings in all the aspects of a community- the way of life, their beliefs and habits, their ways of worship and the evil eye that torments them time and again. Adultery, petty crimes, superstitions, and gender superiority are recurring themes and the community is heavily influenced by them.

Among all the stories, I think 'Tawhida' gave me a glimpse of the magnificence of Mahfouz's writing (a story I truly enjoyed reading) where he creates a character who embraces modernity while simultaneously being in touch with her roots. The collection also contains Mahfouz's Nobel Prize acceptance speech that shows how aware he was of the world around him and how essential it was for him to tell the world about Cairo and the precious life it supports and nurtures.

Elif Shafak says, "Mahfouz's Cairo was a fluid world. Nothing felt permanently settled; nothing felt solid," something I caught glimpses of, throughout this collection. I don't think I am at a place where I can review this book in a way that is accessible or convincing for the readers. So off I go, to explore.

[Brown Girl Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd actually give this one 3,5 stars.

[Resh (The Book Satchel) · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories were seen in a drawer after the author’s death with the note ‘To be published in 1994’. I thought the Introduction by translator Roger Allen was fitting and informative. If you read the book, don't skip the introduction. THE QUARTER (Arabic) is set in one of my fav settings—a small community/hara/quarter in Cairo. The stories—short, mostly revolving around charcters—follow the inhabitants—sometimes reading like a parable. Often a Wrong is absolved by a right. Forbidden lovers, a woman who is a living reminder to the man who wronged her and gave a child out of wedlock, hidden spaces over bath, superstitions— often one to two pages long. Some stories felt incomplete making me wonder if Mahfouz had planned to edit then later. Not the best to start with Mahfouz. But a good collection

Much thanks to Pan Macmillan India for a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

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[Amal Bedhyefi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The manuscript of these narratives was found in a drawer with a note attached stating, ‘To be published in 1994’.”
When Saqi Books offered me to read this copy , i was literally jumping in excitement since i grew up reading his books .
The stories take place, as the title of the book suggests , in a 'hara' , or a quarter in Cairo, Egypt.
In the Quarter , Mahfouz alternates between criticizing the religious and political actions of certain members of the quarter and celebrating the intimacy of the culture .
This book is also marked by Mahfouz's brutal honesty , which explains why he had been under fire in his country and his exquisite and smart storytelling where characters leave as quickly as they arrive . Mahfouz's stories , beyond their simplicity , hide a lot of mystery and cynicism.
Was Naguib planning to publish these short stories separate ? or was he intending to include them in a bigger project ? No one knows .
As Roger Allen , the translator , mentioned in the introduction : "It is perhaps only appropriate that we are left with a mystery. Meanwhile, we are without a doubt grateful for this unexpected gift."
Indeed ,I am grateful.

[Aisha (thatothernigeriangirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

29/06/20 Reread : After rereading this book, I have been able to pinpoint the reoccurrence of the concept of the unknown and fate as a common ground in every vignette. Still not sure about the meaning of some of them🤔

Special thanks to SaqiBooks for sending me a review copy

Like Elif Shafak, who wrote the foreword for this collection, my introduction to Mahfouz was a novel called Midaq Alley. I had no knowledge of this brilliant author prior to that and I remember immediately spotting the similarities in the ‘communal’ theme rampant in the book and the one that was common in old Yorùbá communities. This theme of community can easily be seen in this collection as well.

The Quarter is a collection of 18 vignettes found amongst Mahfouz unpublished works and then published posthumously. Each vignette gives a furtive glimpse into the life of a member/family living in a quarter(hara) thus a repetition of the communal theme that Mahfouz won me over with. Two characters, the imam and the head of the quarter, were constant through each entry with the imam providing spiritual and moral guidance and the quarter head maintaining some sort of decorum.

As is expected in a close knitted community, gossip was another constant “character” with other qualities like secrets, adultery and widespread superstitions as well. Even though the longest narrative in the collection was just 6 pages longs, Mahfouz still chipped in some “big issues” in our not-so-close-knitted communities of today. A case in point is the opening vignette, The Oven, where a father had considered his family’s dignity tarnished when his daughter eloped with a baker’s son. As it turned out, this would be his saving grace in the nearest future. Another instance is that of Tawhida in the last entry. Tawhida was the quintessence of an individual who embraced the cultures brought in by colonialism without discarding her own values. In a way, Mahfouz May have taught the reader that there are ways to appreciate foreign cultures without developing an inferiority complex for one’s own.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that Mahfouz valued communal ties as much as the characters in his books. In his acceptance speech for the ‘88 Nobel Prize for Literature, he embodied ‘pan-humanism’ and reiterated the struggles of South Africans in the then apartheid, the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza and other Africans and Asians. Finally, he left us with a hopeful analogy that I think is still very much relevant:
“In front of us is an indelible proof: were it not for the fact that victory is always on the side of good, hordes of wandering humans would not have been able, in the face of beasts...fear and egotism, to grow and multiply”

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of 18 fascinating vignettes of the inhabitants of a quarter [hara] in modern Cairo. Each is a parable or folktale-like short story with a central theme and often a pithy gnomic aphorism; some only 2 or 3 pages long. The civil authority [Head of the Quarter] and spiritual leader, the Imam, appear in each story and might sum up the conclusion.
In "The Oven" we read of a pair of lovers from different classes--a baker and a merchant's daughter-- who elope and though her father has written her off, the daughter saves her father from bankruptcy. "She has returned; she needs no forgiveness", the Head tells the Imam. This was my favorite story.
In "Pursuit", a wronged woman badgers the man who has given her a child out of wedlock; this one reminded me somewhat of the Unjust Judge and the Widow parable in the Bible in its emphasis on persistence.
Naqba, in another story, cannot lie.
In "The Arrow", a man is killed and the story shows how people still cling to superstitions, in spite of the all-too-human logic of the action in front of them.
In "The End of Boss Saqr" a man's first wife finds out what her dying husband had meant by whispering to her: "Over the bath."
In "Tawhida", the title character always remains young in the narrator's mind although many years have passed.
The book also included Mahfouz's Nobel Prize Acceptance speech and four of these stories in the original Arabic in the author's handwriting.

Highly recommended, although the author's Cairo Trilogy might be a better introduction to him.

[charlotte, · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rep: Egyptian cast & setting

[↠Ameerah↞ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it. I wouldn't go as far as saying I loved it but I definitely appreciate it. Reading each story may feel incomplete and maybe even incoherent without any clear goal, but I think the magic lies in reading in between the lines. The subtle doses of magical realism, the everyday lives of the highly superstitious Gamaliya residents, and the seemingly endless drama. The unfinished stories left me wondering what could have been had Mahfouz completed them.

I did really enjoy the foreward by Elif Şafak and the introduction by Roger Allen who translated the collection. Very insightful.

I'm definitely interested in reading more of Naguib's work.

[2TReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars as I loved every single story within this collection, but they left me wanting more, more time with the characters, their lives, and the quarter itself was so vibrant.

"Evil tongues never show us any mercy"- Sitt Farga.
📜📜📜📜📜📜
These stories are short and crisp, all being linked by the human element, community, culture, and the experiences and responses that are unique yet universal at the same time. Stories that explore the spirit of strength, the bonds of families and what can threaten them, superstitions and how they can affect behaviour and interactions.
📜📜📜📜📜📜
Some are just a page length, but nothing is lost as Mahfouz wastes no words in rendering each story. They are rich with people, incidents, humour, sadness, demons, spirits of fortune, and life. Mahfouz shows just how vivid and enthralling short stories can be.
📜📜📜📜📜📜

[Najia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 18, previously unpublished, stories by Mahfouz. I can see why Mahfouz chose them to remain unpublished. Each one of them was too short and didn’t fulfil my need for listening to stories, for i felt each one of them had more space for elaboration but the writer left then hanging in the balance. It’s a very small book, which could be finished in one sitting. Only get it if you want to have everything with the name ‘Naguib Mahfouz’ on your shelf, otherwise really not worth the effort and money.

[Naisinkoi · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4 Stars

I picked up this writer when researching for books to read for one of the prompts from the #SomethingBookish 2022 reading challenge.

The writing of this author is amazing and you find yourself getting lost in the stories, many of which are relatable to any village in Africa, how it runs and the hierarchy therein. I loved how the theme of the Quarter was interweaved within each of the stories creating what felt more like a novel or a story instead of an anthology.

At the end of the book, they included the author's acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize for Literature. You can tell the kind of person and the beliefs he held from this speech.

Needless to say, I loved this book and can't wait to explore more from this writer.

[Marcus Ham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought one of the most interesting parts of this was the emergence of the first person narrator half way through. Who are they? Where did they go? I wonder whether Mahfouz meant for this to happen, or whether the present order is an unintended yet intriguing consequence of the editorial process, given, after all, that these stories were just drafts found in a drawer.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“But our neighbourhood has a hidden tongue, whispering secrets around and spreading all kinds of fearful premonitions, and of whom no one knows to whom it belongs. The rumours found their way into every nook and cranny, like a strong smell permeating everything.”
This citation from the short story ‘The prayer of sheikh Kaf’ is symptomatic for an atmosphere that Mahfoez creates so marvellously in almost everyone of the eightteen stories ‘The whispering of the stars’. It is not just ‘couleur locale’, it’s foremost the social foundation of an old neighbourhood of Cairo, on which the local inhabitants take their actions and take advise about official business rather from a wise woman who has done good or the grey old wise man or the imam, with more authority than officials. Thus many of those stories turn into little many-facetted gems. JM

[Joachim Stoop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zelden treft men tussen de oude papieren van een lang overleden Nobelprijswinnaar ongepubliceerd werk aan. Tachtig pagina’s met achttien korte verhalen over het leven in een volkswijk in Cairo werden -wellicht letterlijk- van onder het stof geblazen. Verwacht geen op zichzelf staande, met pointes vergulde verhalen maar vignetten rond familiebanden, (bij)geloof, noodlot en verboden liefdes waarbij het advies van de lokale imam nooit ver weg is. Zowel het magisch realisme van djinns en goddelijke stemmen als de overwegend sacrale levenslessen die elke anekdote vergezellen, geven deze collectie een zweem van zedelijke parabels.
Helaas mist deze bundel de politieke en culturele gelaagdheid uit zijn befaamde Cairo-trilogie en de geestigheid van zijn landgenoot Albert Cossery. Simplisme en dramatiek winnen het veelal van de typerende rijkheid aan nuance waarvoor het Zweedse comité Mahfoez roemde. Desalniettemin weet hij bij elke vertelling de lezer razendsnel de Egyptische straten in te trekken en jongleert hij handig met de grote thema’s des levens. Hoewel enkele verhalen slechts een voorzet tot karakterschets lijken en deze bundel daardoor soms aanvoelt alsof je na de aperitiefhapjes alweer huiswaarts moet, krijg je voldoende zin om het steviger oeuvre van deze eerste en enige Arabische Nobelprijswinnaar van de Literatuur te degusteren.

3 sterren https://www.humo.be/cs-bc4cbdfb

[Vijaya Chikermane · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars. A collection of stories set in a hara or quarter in Cairo about everyday people, everyday scandals and everyday societal hypocrisies. I’m not usually a fan of short stories but I’ve been wanting to read Naguib Mahfouz for a while. I can’t say these stories or his writing will stay with me, they were interesting but perhaps I’m missing something. This reminded me a lot of a series called ‘Akbar and Birbal’ I used to read when I was a kid in India. Much like these stories each tale eluded to a moral or lesson illustrated by the everyday lives of people in a small town with central characters being the ruler, his advisor and religious leaders. Naguib Mahfouz offers something far more complex and telling in terms of social commentary but still, they just didn’t evoke the kind of emotional and surreal satisfaction that folktales usually do.

The story of how this manuscript came to be is super fascinating in itself. Published well after his death, the collection was discovered in a drawer with plans for release. There’s something so ethereal about a writer’s work being released after their death, like they’ve truly been immortalized.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Quarter is a collection of 18 [very] short stories from the first Nobel Prize in Literature winner in the Arabic language world, all set in some nondescript quarter in Cairo at some timeless period. These are stories of divorce, defilement, death, and lust, each centered on non-recurring characters whose only real unifying thread is place and the role imbued to the imam and the sheik (head of the quarter). I found the Forward and the transcript of Mahfouz' acceptance speech to the Swedish Academy the most interesting content in this book. In his closing, he offers us this: "In spite of all what goes on around us I am committed to optimism until the end."

[Jane Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a story but a collection of sketches. Lovely, lovely writing. At the end is the speech Naguib Mahfouz gave when he was awarded the Nobel prize in literature.

[Shushuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read a story per night to give myself something to look forward to. However, it’s Naguib Mahfouz so obviously I couldn’t just leave it at one story.

As always with Mahfouz writing, I am taken back to a time, land and place that has never been mine, but feels so familiar. I felt like I knew the people in Quarter, and could vision the streets, the shops, the mosque etc.
And isn’t that what good writing should do- make you feel like you’re there, observing and witnessing everything first hand?!

[Uchenna (favourite_igbo_boy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ ratings

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

[Alena Gradoboeva · Rating 2 out of 5]

It might be brilliant. But I didn’t understand it:(
The Nobel speech though is amazing

[Morayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will be reading a full length novel of his in the new year
I enjoyed his writing. My one issue with short stories is the abrupt ending with no resolution yet I continue to read them.

[بسنت · Rating 3 out of 5]

“People spread the news, but they were all inclined to believe that the voice belonged to one of the honest, believing demons”

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thin volume of recently discovered short stories by the late Nobel Prize winning Egyptian author, Naguib Mahfouz. There is something familiar in each of the stories even though the setting is thousands of miles away from the city bus in downtown Boston on which I sit as I read them. As each character interacts with others and confronts life's endless challenges, Mafouz portrays their essential humanity.

[Mer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in The Quarter and the people living in it. The short stories were, well, short. This made some of them not really say much and lack some depth. There usually were some vague morals in each story. Can't say I really enjoyed the portrayal of most women in this.

The writing style read fast and was nice, but nothing special.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Quarter contains beautifully written vignettes of life in a Cairo Quarter. I enjoyed the humour and view of another culture where demons, the supernatural and mischief are a part of life. The snippets are short and have no real conclusion which can feel a little frustrating. I read this on The Pigeonhole over ten consecutive days which proved to be an ideal way to savour each chapter.

[Catalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tiny collection of vignettes is a testament to Mahfouz's literary genius. The quarter really come to life full of colours and smells and with all its intricate human relationships. It's amazing how the authors manages not only to take us through the quarter and make us a part of it, but he also takes the reader through a full palette of emotions: from joy to rage and everything in between.


*read as a serialization on ThePigeonHole

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really interesting collection of short stories that gave a beautiful insight into a Egyptian quarter. In really short pieces we get to know a lot about the residents and their beliefs, fears, lives, and loves. Take a look and immerse yourself in this world.

[Jen Burrows · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of vignettes gives an interesting snapshot onto life in a modern Cairo neighbourhood, filled with life, humour and a sense of magical realism. The Quarter is definitely best read through: individually, some of the stories lack impact, but together they take on an almost mythic quality.

*Thank you to ThePigeonhole.com for sharing this story!*