By Mohammad Al Sahily | Staff Writer
Naguib Mahfouz is one of the greatest Arab novelists of the modern era, and the only Arab to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (which he won in 1988). Throughout his large body of work, he tried to address the raw realities of Egyptian society, without being burdened by traditional narratives and imagined moral idealism. As a result, his work cut through the truth of conservative Arab societies, revealing aspects we never thought existed. One such portrayal is “Midaq Alley”, one of Mahfouz’s most famous works, which was popularized by its translation to several other languages and its dramatization with Salma Hayek.
First published in English in 1966, its original title is Zuqāq al-Midaq. it is set in a bustling back alley of Cairo, Egypt called Midaq Alley, whose denizens’ lives reflect the larger, increasingly cosmopolitan and urbanized world of the 1940s. Mahfouz portrays Cairo as it teeters on the precipice of modernization, lurching inexorably into the modern era. The novel is also concerned with the transformations in national identity that Egyptians experienced during this decade, partly as a result of World War II and partial British occupation of Cairo. Such portrayals were rare at the time, and they remain so today.
Hamida is portrayed as an ambitious young woman, who seeks liberation from the confines of the crowded neighborhood. Eventually she becomes a prostitute, and Mahfouz was by no means disdainful of her choices. She would eventually return to her neighborhood and settle down without facing the social brunt associated with sexually active women, as opposed to the normally scornful portrayals and lives of women in Arab literature. This represents a thumping of the nose at traditional misogyny, which Mahfouz detested and sought to eradicate. We are exposed to Hamida’s thoughts, aspirations, and dreams, which makes her more human than object.
Perhaps the most “scandalous” of the characters is Kirsha, the tavern owner who has a penchant for sexual encounters with young men. Kirsha, while being discreet, does not seem to find his liaisons morally corrupt, nor does he care for the charge of “adultery”. He is only annoyed when he is exposed to the people, and he soon ridicules his lack of discretion, but not the homosexual nature of his liaisons. In addition, Kirsha does not appear to want to divorce his wife or leave his family, indicating that his sexual preferences are not mutually exclusive, but instead coexist within. Another character is Husniya, who delights in hitting her husband, Jaada, with slippers whenever he commits a perceived misdemeanor. This is a radical reversal of gender roles in the Arab collective memory, as men are infamously associated with physically assaulting their wives. Such twists make Midaq Alley a very powerful wakeup call.
Arab society is by no means a monolith, as is the case with all societies. Mahfouz would receive great backlash for much of his life, which culminated in an assassination attempt in 1994. Arabs refuse to accept anyone who unearths their moral predilections, which is not necessarily aimed at judgement, but rather at the exposure of hypocrisy of their moral preaching.
You can find this book, and Mahfouz’s work, at the Hindawi Foundation website as a legally free PDF. Read Naguib Mahfouz!