Dialogues of Naguib Mahfouz: Thebes at war By Mohamed Salmawy In late 1999, the literary editor of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo visited Naguib Mahfouz and told him that the paper published a list of the most important novels of the 20th century, one of which was Mahfouz's Thebes at War, published in Egypt in 1944. Mahfouz was taken aback. And with typical modesty he remarked that, "perhaps they meant that it was one of the most important novels of my first phase, when I was writing Pharaonic novels, before I moved on to realism." As I translated the remark to the Spanish editor, I anticipated the answer. "No, it is one of the most important novels published in the world in the 20th century. We conducted an extensive survey among a large number of critics and literary figures in Spain, and also in some European universities, on what constitutes the best literary product of the century. And we found that Thebes at War captured the spirit of the age through its colourful depiction of the struggle of the Egyptians against foreign occupation. The movements of liberation were the main theme of the 20th century, a century that saw the creation of colonial empires and also the struggle of people against imperialism across the world, from Asia to Africa and Latin America. Thebes at War depicted this struggle in an engaging fashion, linking Egypt's temporary life with its ancient history; the novel contextualised national liberation movements while offering parallels from history. Thebes at War was greeted with enthusiasm by the readers of El Mundo when we printed and distributed it last week," the editor said. "The readers' reaction is perhaps linked to their interest in ancient Egyptian history," Mahfouz said. "We have hundreds of novels that address this stage in history, beginning with British writer Haggard to the novels of the French writer Christian Jacques, all of which have been translated into Spanish and sold in great numbers. But we chose your novel for its exceptional literary power," the editor replied. I asked the editor if there were any other Arab novels among the selection. He said no. So I turned to Mahfouz and said, "this is a new honour you brought to the Egyptian novel." "I always intended to write the entire history of ancient Egypt in novels. I had a notebook in which I collected nearly 40 ideas inspired by this history in the hope of turning them into novels. But after I wrote only three novels I suddenly went into realistic novels and never came back to the Pharaonic phase. Not until the 1980s that is, when I wrote Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth," Mahfouz said. " Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth appeared for the first time in German last September. But the language in which most of your works have been translated is Spanish -- 39 novels -- followed by English -- 31 novels," I said. "So I should thank the Spaniards twice, once for reading my works, and again for choosing Thebes at War as one of the key novels of the 20th century," Mahfouz said.
