Contemporary Egypt in the novels of Naguib Mahfuz

Abstract EN

The best-known novels by Naguib Mahfuz depict the lives and manners of lower middle-class families in Cairo and their environment.

In particular, he tells about the alleys of the al-Jamaliyya, the neighbourhood in which he spent his childhood and youth.

His novels picture Egyptian milieus from the most ancient of times to contemporary everyday life, deal with questions of broad human concern, raise philosophical and existential questions.

The author is always guided by a belief in Egyptian continuity and greatness, from time to time shaken to its foundations by tumultuous history, the corruption of thought and disaster.

Later, the modern age and life in a changing society became the focus of his writing, although some of his later works have a more mystical or metaphysical character.