Naguib Mahfouz (Arabic author profile: ) 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.
Midaq Alley is the English Translation of Zuq膩q al-Midaq written by Naguib Mahfouz, released in 1966. The story is about Midaq Alley, a teeming back street in Cairo which is a microcosm of the world.
We鈥檙e in a ghetto in the heart of Cairo during WW II around the 1940鈥檚. There鈥檚 a cast of a dozen characters. Some love living there and, some hate it and can鈥檛 wait to somehow get out. One young man screams at his mother: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a filthy house, the alley stinks and the people here are all cattle.鈥�
It鈥檚 a story of public intimacy in a tiny community.
A couple of folks are atrocious people. There鈥檚 a so-called 鈥榙octor鈥� who operates on beggars to make them look horrible so they can get more money from begging and share their take with the doctor. There鈥檚 a so-called 鈥榙entist鈥� who gets his dental plates and gold teeth from grave robbing. There鈥檚 humor 鈥� the baker鈥檚 wife who daily publicly beats her lazy husband with her shoes. He seems to enjoy it.
Probably the most extensive story is of a beautiful young girl. She鈥檚 one of those who can鈥檛 wait to break out of the neighborhood. But her best opportunity for marriage seems to be the local young barber. She becomes engaged to him by going to a holy man with her foster-mother (who is a match maker) and reading passages from the Koran. The young man agrees to abandon the poorly-paid barber business and go away to work for the British Army to make more money. Once he goes away they have no further contact. A wealthy local older man decides he wants a second wife and the young girl and her mother drop the barber and repeat the vows. Then the old man has a heart attack and that deal is off! Suddenly a dashing, well-dressed young man, a stranger, appears wooing her. The young woman falls in love and runs off with him.
There鈥檚 humor too in the foster mother鈥檚 efforts to arrange a marriage for a fifty-year old widow. (The widow buys new teeth from guess who?) The match making is successful because the widow has a big asset: a three-story apartment building.
Another fairly extensive story is of an older married man with children who is bi-sexual. He brings young men up to his roof top in the evenings. While his wife, his son and the holy man use terms like 鈥減erversions, filthy habits and sins鈥� the community pretty much just accepts his ways without much ado.
There鈥檚 an older man who is a 鈥榬eciter' in the caf茅s. He performs poetry from memory but unfortunately the caf茅 owners don鈥檛 want him anymore. 鈥淧eople want the radio.鈥� The caf茅 owner makes his money off tea and hashish.
It鈥檚 a good story. These are not short stories but intertwined tales, so we follow most of the characters all the way through the book and have the suspense of seeing where each story is going.
The author (1911-2006) was one of the first Arabic authors to gain international fame for his work. He won the Nobel for Literature in 1988 and remains the only Arabic author to do so.
Top two photos of life in Cairo during WW II from vintagenewsdaily.com Egyptian stamp honoring the author from
I can see why it is called Mahfouz's best novel (although I personally like his 'Children of the Alley' more). It has a large number of well-developed and complex characters built with great psychological insight. The Egypt of second world war comes alive in these pages. The lower middle class characters - barbers, sweet shop owners etc which populate the book are very much like people belonging to similar classes that I have met in India.
Their psychology, their motivations which Mahfouz draws out so beautifully are universal though. The sexual desires suppressed because of social pressure, the strong desire to be move up from one's station in life, the constant consciousness of luxuries that are beyond one's reach - which also turn some people towards corrupt ways. In this novel this desire also makes the youth (among which it is felt most) take part in war as British army. Of course, once the war is over, the army lays them and their dreams out.
One feels for Hamida whose fate is similar to those who, like her, ignore their emotional needs in face of glamour of material comforts and only realise their mistake too late.
Another thing I can't help noticing, in all three Mahfouz books I have read so far, is bis refuse to take a judging tone or make social or moral criticism towards his characters, he seems to want to extend his willingness to understand to everyone - which I found sometimes pleasant and sometimes annoying.
Midaq Alley could be any small, familiar place like a small town one grew up in, or the neighbourhood of his youth. Here, it is a street in Cairo, Egypt and the story is set sometime during the second world war. Originally written in Arabic, its main charm is that it takes the reader to where he has never been before: a small street, in the heart of the Arab world, at the time when his parents, or maybe grandparents, were just small boys and girls.
Some novels the reader grapples with. This one is an easy read and can be digested even amidst the firecrackers and drunken new year revelries. Not one word where a dictionary is needed and most of the characters are people anyone must already somehow met before: the beautiful, ambitious and materialistic girl, Hamida, who ended up being a prostitute (when she became her pimp's lover he nicknamed her "Titi"--the Tagalog word for penis; and she was given a dance instructor named "Susu"--Tagalog for breasts); the young barber Abbas, who loves her very much and who tragically dies a senseless death because of her; a holy man whom people at the alley consult when they have problems; a married businessman with successful children who is addicted to hashish and sex; another one likes young boys; still another one is constantly being beaten by his wife; the town fool who loves to show off his knowledge of English and actually spells the words, unbidden, for his listeners. One character, however, I had not seen anywwhere else whether in literature or in real life: a beggar who, as a sideline, cripples or maims people who come to him to make them beggars, or better beggars. The process may be likened to, say, going to college to take up a course and prepare oneself for a profession. Not making enough money? One goes to this expert "beggar maker" and he'll know what to do with you: maybe twist your arm a little bit, or nip off an ear, blind an eye, or smash your knees. For free. But the beggar maker gets a commission from the income you'll earn later. From begging.
Naguib Mahfouz, 1988 Nobel Prize winner for literature