Dialogues of Naguib Mahfouz: The Pharaonic phase By Mohamed Salmawy Salmawy: A delegation of Italian archaeologists led by Guiseppe Fanfoni, the famous Egyptologist, once visited Naguib Mahfouz. The discussion eventually veered toward the novels Mahfouz wrote about Ancient Egypt with visitors pointing out that they often advised students of Egyptology to read those novels for inspiration. A professor at the University of Torino pointed out that novelists are entitled to twist historic events for artistic purposes, but Mahfouz managed to present history as it was. Mahfouz: My interest in Ancient Egyptian history precedes my interest in the novel. I was still a student when Carter discovered King Tut's tomb in the early 1920s, a discovery which shocked the world at the time. In Egypt however, rather than shock, we felt pride in our old history. So I regularly went to the national library to read about this history. The first book that I ever published was not a novel, but a translation of a British book entitled Ancient Egypt, which was widely read at the time. So when I decided to venture into literature, I was already well-versed in history. I wanted to present history in a fictional form, just as Sir Walter Scott did with Scottish history. I wanted to repeat what Rider Haggard, whose novel Ayesha I admired, did, with Ancient Egyptian history. And so I collected about 40 ideas in a special notebook, each for a separate novel. Salmawy: At this point, one of the visitors asked Mahfouz why he didn't stick to his plan of writing more books about Ancient Egypt. Mahfouz: As I continued to study literature, my interest in fiction overtook my interest in history, so I started writing realistic novels. Salmawy: The talent of Mahfouz was such that it was hard for him to stay within one type of novel; he always sought out new horizons. That's why he moved on from the historic to the realistic novel. And then again, after the Cairo Trilogy, he began writing mythical epics. Finally, following 1967, he moved on to experimental and philosophical novels. So one can divide his work into distinct phases, something which is often true for great artists.
