Naguib Mahfouz

The Writer Naguib Mahfouz

Name:Naguib Mahfouz

Born : Egypt , 1911

Nationality:Egyptian

Education:He attended King Fu'ad 1 university graduating with a degree in philosophy in ,1934

Naguib Mahfouz , father figure of Arabic literature , began writing when he was seventeen. His first novel was published in 1939 and ten more were written before the Egyptian Revolution of July 1952, when he stopped writing for several years. One novel was republished in 1953, however, and the appearance of the Cairo Triology, Bayn al Qasrayn, Qasr al Shawq, Sukkariya (Between-the-Palaces, Palace of Longing, Sugarhouse) in 1957 made him famous throughout the Arab world as a depicter of traditional urban life.

A longtime civil servant, Mahfouz served in the
Ministry of Mortmain Endowments, then as Director of Censorship in the Bureau of Art, Director of the Foundation for the Support of the Cinema, and finally as a consultant to the Ministry of Culture.

He published 34 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 Arabic-language films.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1988.

Naguib Mahfouz died on August 30, 2006 .He once dreamed that all the social classes of Egypt, including the very poor, joined his funeral procession. In actuality, attendance was tightly restricted.

By Rania ElSaadawy