Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    Egypt will keep pushing for Gaza peace, aid: PM    Remittances from Egyptians abroad surge 70% YoY in July–May: CBE    Sudan's ambassador to Egypt holds reconstruction talks on with Arab League    Egypt's current account gap narrows, but overall BoP records deficit    Al-Sisi urges accelerated oil, gas discoveries, lower import bill    SCZONE signs $52.6m textile industry deals during China investment tour    Egypt hosts international neurosurgery conference to drive medical innovation    Egypt's EDA discusses Johnson & Johnson's plans to expand investment in local pharmaceutical sector    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi calls for boosting oil & gas investment to ease import burden    EGX to close Thursday for July 23 Revolution holiday    Egypt, Senegal sign pharma MoU to unify regulatory standards    Famine kills more Gaza children as Israel tightens siege amid global outrage    Kuwait's Crown Prince, Egyptian minister discuss strengthening cooperation    Egyptian Drug Authority discusses plans for joint pharmaceutical plant in Zambia    Egypt's FM seeks deeper economic, security ties on five-nation West Africa tour    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt foils terrorist plot, kills two militants linked to Hasm group    Giza Pyramids' interior lighting updated with new LED system    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Korea Culture Week in Egypt to blend K-Pop with traditional arts    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    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    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    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.



On an Eid anniversary, Mahfouz''s final gifts
Published in Almasry Alyoum on 30 - 08 - 2011

Nobody feels the joy of the Eid as much as children, and when we were children, we could hardly contain our excitement while waiting for it: pocket money, new outfits, new shoes. We would put on these valuable garments and go out to show them off to the other children of the neighborhood.
“We would also show off our mothers' kahk (the Eid confection par excellence), all the different varieties, so that instead of one helping, each of us would get five or six. The last time I ate kahk was a long time ago. When I became diabetic I stopped eating sweets, though I had a liking for them.
“That is the way of life. You give up your pleasures one by one until there is nothing left, then you know it is time to go.
From “Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber: reflections of a Nobel laureate, 1994-2001,” by Naguib Mahfouz and Mohamed Salmawy.
Naguib Mahfouz, who died on this day in 2006, gave unstintingly of his literary gifts. He wrote steadily through the 1930s and 1940s, pausing briefly at the opening of the 1950s after the 1952 revolution. He resumed and wrote on in the late 1950s to the 1980s. These were the years that Mahfouz produced the “Cairo Trilogy,” “Children of Gebelawi,” “Miramar,” “The Harafish" and “Arabian Nights and Days.” In 1988, at the age of 76, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in appreciation for these great novels. Six years later, he was stabbed in the neck by a fundamentalist and near-fatally wounded.
But although the nerves to Mahfouz's right arm were permanently damaged and he would never pen another big novel, he never stopped working. At the age of 83, as Mohamed Salmawy writes in the introduction to “Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber,” the master learned how to write all over again. But the injury dogged him, and Mahfouz was only able to work for a short time each day. He no longer had the endurance for broad, expansive novels.
So in his last years, Mahfouz embraced a new genre: the exceptionally short and evocative dream story. Mahfouz's arm was no longer good for the extensive crossing out and rewriting that he had once done. He would think through his stories, revise them in his head, and then memorize the version he would dictate to Sabry Hafez. His small, haunting, night-thoughts ran in “Nisf al-Donya” magazine as “Dreams of Convalescence” and have been translated into English by Raymond Stock. They were published sequentially as “The Dreams” and “Dreams of Departure.”
The dreams are spare renderings of his memories and nightmares, his early loves and his fears of death, muggings and attacks. Dream 107 is an ambiguous “prayer for the dead” that follows the funeral of a novelist renowned for his bad luck, quite different from Mahfouz, as “hardly a single reader knew his writings.” But things turn out - perhaps well - for the author, as “so many people came to take part or just to look on that when the procession reached the cemetery, it was the largest procession ever seen on such an occasion. By the time night fell, the deceased's name was on everyone's lips.”
In his final years, Mahfouz also continued to meet with a circle of literary friends and acquaintances. His weekly column for Al-Ahram became a conversation with Mohamed Salmawy, and these conversations were collected in the volume “Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber.” The columns were also short, evocative descriptions of wide-ranging topics such as Mahfouz's physiotherapy, his experience with literary fame, birthdays, Eids, his childhood and his later years.
Salmawy even took pains to document Mahfouz's final few weeks in the hospital, after a fall at home caused the literary master to hit his head. Salmawy's narrative of the author's last weeks, “The Last Station: Naguib Mahfouz Looking Back” (2007), shares many intimate moments.
Although the book was penned by Salmawy, it too is one of Mahfouz's final gifts: Mahfouz continued to share his life and thoughts with others right up until he was gone.


Clic here to read the story from its source.