Dialogues of Naguib Mahfouz: Only the truth By Mohamed Salmawy Salmawy: The relationship between the writer and authority is always tense. The state constantly fears the writer and the opposite is also true. You have been an employee of the state, yet your works do not indicate that you were in agreement with this state. How did you attain the delicate balance? Mahfouz: I was the ideal government employee who would obey orders and never dispute anything. But once I took hold of the pen I forgot everything. I did not write in my capacity as a civil servant. My sole allegiance was to the truth. Salmawy: Did you not fear the state's retribution? Mahfouz: I cannot claim that I was not afraid. But what helped was the apparent state policy of allowing freedom in the domain of the arts as an outlet for expression. The state would not allow deviation from its political line, but it did allow many literary and artistic works to criticize that line. Salmawy: But you were also censured and penalised. Mahfouz: This was for positions adopted outside the domain of my literary works. For instance, I signed a petition at the beginning of the 1970s along with a number of writers and authors criticising the policies of President Anwar El-Sadat. The signatories, including myself, were banned from writing for a while. Some of my writings were also banned in other instances, but these were mostly newspaper articles not literary works. Salmawy: You were also the target of attacks by trends far-placed from the heavy hand of the state. Their hostility reached the extent of trying to assassinate you. Mahfouz: A writer confronts not only the state, but all oppressive forces that emanate from it or outside of it. He cannot survive or perform his role except in an environment of freedom, since he represents progress and looking to the future. That is why a writer will sometimes find himself in a confrontation imposed upon him by reactionary forces. That this should reach the extent of trying to assassinate someone is to be regretted. Salmawy: Until when do you think this will continue? Our Arab world is overcome with despotic orientations both within the state and outside it. We have laws restricting freedom that are without parallel anywhere in the advanced world. Mahfouz: This is true. But we are in a transitional phase. I believe that all of these laws will collapse because they are not suited to the current phase. The people have woken up and come out on the streets demanding democracy. From now on they will not accept such laws. Salmawy: But do you believe that the prevailing fundamentalist and reactionary trends augur the democratic future of which you speak? Mahfouz: The desire for freedom and democracy is the more powerful motivating force on the Arab street. The proof of this is that the reactionary trend to which you refer now also talks of its commitment to democracy and pledges to respect the freedom of others.
