Egypt's Investment Minister, World Bank discuss strengthening partnership    El Hamra Port emerges as regional energy hub attracting foreign investment: Petroleum Minister    Egypt hosts 4th African Trade Ministers' Retreat to accelerate AfCFTA implementation    Israeli aggression won't bring peace, jeopardises treaties, Egypt's Sisi warns    Power of Proximity: How Egyptian University Students Fall in Love with Their Schools Via Social Media Influencers    Egypt wins Aga Khan Award for Architecture for Esna revival project    EGX closed in mixed notes on Sept. 15    Madbouly reviews strategy to localize pharmaceutical industry, ensure drug supply    EHA launches national telemedicine platform with support from Egyptian doctors abroad    Egypt's Foreign Minister, Pakistani counterpart meet in Doha    Egypt condemns terrorist attack in northwest Pakistan    Emergency summit in Doha as Gaza toll rises, Israel targets Qatar    Egypt renews call for Middle East free of nuclear weapons، ahead of IAEA conference    Egypt advances plans to upgrade historic Cairo with Azbakeya, Ataba projects    Egyptian pound ends week lower against US dollar – CBE    Egypt hosts G20 meeting for 1st time outside member states    Lebanese Prime Minister visits Egypt's Grand Egyptian Museum    Egypt to tighten waste rules, cut rice straw fees to curb pollution    Egypt seeks Indian expertise to boost pharmaceutical industry    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Dialogues of Naguib Mahfouz: Centres of creativity
Published in Al-Ahram Weekly on 28 - 06 - 2007


Dialogues of Naguib Mahfouz:
Centres of creativity
By Mohamed Salmawy
More than any other writer, Naguib Mahfouz had a strange affinity with coffeehouses. Tawfiq Al-Hakim was also a frequenter of coffeehouses, but his name was only linked to one or two cafés, the best known being Café Petro in Alexandria. Mahfouz, however, was a familiar face in a dozen or so coffeehouses in various parts of Cairo, from Gammaliya to Heliopolis.
A French writer once told me with obvious relish that he went to the Khan Al-Khalili and sat at the Naguib Mahfouz Café. "You're luckier than Mahfouz," I said. The writer never frequented that café named after him. The story is that when Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize in 1988, this coffeehouse was ready to open and the owners asked Mahfouz to let them name it after him, and he agreed. Mahfouz went to the coffeehouse once, admired its decoration, and never went back.
I once asked Mahfouz about his favourite coffeehouse, and he said he couldn't tell me that, any more than he could tell me which of his works he favoured. Mahfouz liked all the coffeehouses he used to go to at different phases of his life. The first of those, he once told me, was Qoshtomor Café, which still exists. Mahfouz named a novel after that particular café -- the novel was being serialised in Al-Ahram at the time Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize.
Mahfouz believed that Qoshtomor Café was named after a Mameluke minister. It was situated a short distance from the famous Orabi Café, which was frequented by the top writers of the generation preceding that of Mahfouz. So Mahfouz and his generation didn't dare go to that particular venue until the older generation had died.
Qoshtomor is a landmark in Mahfouz's life, being the first café that he ever frequented regularly. But the café closer to his heart was Al-Fishawi in Khan Al-Khalili, which he frequented only in Ramadan, between the sunset meal, or Iftar, and the pre-dawn one, or Sohour . At the time, Al-Fishawi occupied a much bigger area than it does now and was one of the best- known coffeehouses in the city.
One of Al-Fishawi's owners told me, before he died, that he would never forget a certain Ramadan night. On that night, a man known for his great skill in the game known as Al-Qafiyah, or the rhyme, came to the café. He was unsurpassed in this game of wit and verbal fencing. He started exchanging jabs with Mahfouz, and this lasted all night, each man prompting the other with the refrain of ishmena, or "what about that?" This man never showed up at the café again, having been so badly defeated by Mahfouz.
Other famous cafés Mahfouz frequented were Safiya Hilmi at Midan Al-Opera; Casino Qasr Al-Nil; Ahmed Abdallah Café, which he described in the Trilogy ; and -- in his latter days -- Farah Boat.
I asked Mahfouz about his attachment to cafés and whether he wrote some of his works there, as some imagined. He said that he never wrote anything except at his desk at home. But the cafés offered him with the ideas, situations, and characters he needed for his novels. "For me, the cafés were the biggest depository of ideas and characters, and I drew a lot from this depository," he said.


Clic here to read the story from its source.