Cairo Trilogy
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The Cairo Trilogy is a trilogy of novels set in Cairo, Egypt. It was written by Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.
The three novels are, in order:
- Palace Walk (original Arabic title: Bayn al-Qasrayn, 1956)
- Palace of Desire (Qasr al-Chawq, 1957)
- Sugar Street (Al-Sukkariyya, 1957)
The books' titles are taken from actual streets in Cairo, the city of Mahfouz's childhood and youth.
The trilogy follows the life of the Cairene patriarch al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad and his family across three generations, from World War I to the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952.
[edit] Palace Walk
Palace Walk is the first book of the Cairo Trilogy. It begins in 1917, during World War I, and ends in 1919, the year of the nationalist revolution.
The 'family' provides the novel with its structure, since the plot is concerned with the lives and interrelationships of its members. However, the story is not set in isolation; indeed, the characters themselves are important mediators between issues of local or wider scope. For example, the theme of 'authority' (particularly its establishment and subversion) is woven into both the maturation of the children of the al-Jawad family and the wider political circumstances which provide the novel with its temporal boundaries.
The novel's opening chapters focus upon the daily routine of the al-Jawad family. Amina, the mother of the family, greets the return of her husband, al-Sayyid Ahmad, from his late-night socialising. She rises once again at dawn to begin preparing food, assisted by her daughters Khadija and Aisha. Her sons join their father for breakfast. At this meal, as with any other dealing with the patriarch, strict etiquette is observed. Subsequent chapters proceed to explore the characters of family members, particularly their relationships with one another. The marriage of the children provides a key focus, as do challenges to the supreme authority of the family's patriarch.
Later in the book, following the November Armistice which ended World War One, political unrest begins to surface in the novel. The 'middle' son, Fahmy, an aspiring and idealistic law student, is drawn into nationalist demonstrations. His passion for an independent Egypt and his disappointment at peaceful, political attempts to achieve it encourage his militant attitude towards the British 'occupation'. For the other family members, however, this unrest constitutes a time of fear and trepidation, not hope or excitement. The encampment of British soldiers directly outside the al-Jawad house directly juxtaposes the two peoples, and symbolises the uncomfortable and tense atmosphere created by British military rule.
The book's Arabic title translates literally into 'between two palaces' - a phrase which highlights the cultural and political transition Egypt experienced at this time, developments brought into focus by the lives of the al-Jawad family.
