Midaq Alley (novel)

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This article is about the Naguib Mahfouz novel. For the film of the novel, see El callejón de los milagros. For the alley, see Khan El-Khalili.

Midaq Alley
Author Naguib Mahfouz
Original title Zuqāq al-Midaq
Translator Trevor Le Gassick
Language Arabic
Publisher Anchor Books
Publication date 1947
Published in
English		 1966
Media type Print
Pages 286
ISBN 0 385 26476 3

Midaq Alley is the English Translation of Zuqāq al-Midaq by Naguib Mahfouz, released in English in 1966. The story is about Midaq Alley, a teeming back street in Cairo which is a microcosm of the world. This work won its author the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Contents

[edit] Summary of Novel

Cultural Context:

Mahfouz plays on the cultural setting. The novel is introduced with a pleasant description of the Arabic culture. One could go as far as saying that it was described in terms of the Western perspective. There are many reference to the Western culture: names, words, characters.

[edit] Characters

Each character is expressed, like a caricature in which one quality or trait is over-emphasized. It is important to note that Mahfouz is not satirizing the individual character - he is satirizing the character type.

  • Kirsha, a café owner who sells and uses hashish and has a predilection for young boys
  • Mrs. Kirsha, infamous for her temper
  • Uncle Kamil, good-hearted, bachelor sweets-seller, famously bloated and sleepy
  • Abbas, a young, kindly barber who wants to get married
  • Salim Alwan, the wealthy businessman
  • Dr. Booshy, the dentist who sells false teeth at dirt-cheap prices by stealing them off dead bodies
  • Sanker, the waiter at Kirsha’s café
  • Sheikh Darwish, the old poet and former English teacher
  • Radwan Hussainy, a landlord who failed his al-Azhar exams, yet is revered for his high degree of education
  • Hussain Kirsha, son of the café owner who works for the British
  • Saniya Afify, widowed landlady who desires to remarry
  • Umm Hamida, the neighborhood matchmaker and bath attendant; Hamida's foster mother
  • Hamida, a beautiful young woman who dreams of a better life and has a distinctly self-centered personality, but is easily persuaded by wealth or power.
  • Husniya, the bakeress who beats her husband with her slipper
  • Jaada, Husniya’s husband
  • Zaita, the cripple maker who lives outside the bakery
  • Ibrahim Farhat, a politician
  • Ibrahim Faraj, a pimp
  • The Poet, who is replaced by a radio, and is barred by Kirsha (only appears in the first chapter)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Works of Naguib Mahfouz

Old Egypt • Whisper of Madness • Mockery of the Fates • Rhadopis of Nubia • The Struggle of Tyba • Modern Cairo • Khan al-Khalili • Midaq Alley • The Mirage • The Beginning and The End • Cairo Trilogy • Palace Walk • Palace of Desire • Sugar Street • Children of Gebelawi • The Thief and the Dogs • Quail and Autumn • God's World • Zaabalawi • The Search • The Beggar • Adrift on the Nile • Miramar • The Pub of the Black Cat • Chitchat on the nile • A story without a beginning or an ending • The Honeymoon • Mirrors • Love under the rain • The Crime • al-Karnak • Respected Sir • The Harafish • Love above the Pyramid Plateau • The Devil Preaches • Love and the Veil • Arabian Nights and Days • Wedding Song • One hour remains • The Journey of Ibn Fattouma • Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth • The Day the Leader was Killed • Fountain and Tomb • Dreams of the Rehabilitation Period • The Seventh Heaven
Languages