![]() | |
Author | Naguib Mahfouz |
---|---|
Country | Egypt |
Language | Arabic |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Dar Shorouq publications |
Publication date | 1988 |
Pages | 154 |
The Coffeehouse (1988) is a novel by Nobel-winning Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz; it was his last novel, although it was not his final work. The novel narrates the story of a group of friends in Al-Abasiya, who during their childhood united after coming from different directions, west and the east, in a playground, becoming life-long friends who took the coffeehouse as their main spot to talk about life. [1]
The conversations throughout the novel touch upon cultural and religious aspects, aiming to depict life in Egypt in the old times from the author’s perspective, along with societal aspects and war happening nearby or among them, such as Palestine war, the death of Ahmed Maher, war between Ibrahim AbdulHadi and the society of “The Muslim Brotherhood”, Cairo fire, and the British conquest. [2]
In addition, the novel sheds light on the cultural and religious differences between this group of friends and their families. [2]
The coffeehouse was the group of friends’ regular, “special” spot where they spoke about life, touching upon all topics from their daily lives and routine spent with their family, such as going to the cinema and planting, to their moments at school and what each of them pursued after graduating, Sadeq founded a copper factory, Tariq became a poet, Hamada pursuing law, and their love life, marriages, and the questions of love and death.
The coffeehouse was considered “haram” to the friends’ parents because of topics discussed, trying out new stuff to them such as smoking hookah and drinking, and telling each other the adventures of how love from the first sight felt like from dopamine rushes, nervousness, and failures.
Political arguments would arise throughout the times of British conquest, wars, and political issues overall, causing protests. Teaching civics was a huge risk at that time despite that it was still done due to the fact that it revealed so much, causing attachment to the homeland. Religious differences would appear, “It is not just Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, we have here. It is also AlWafd”, as one of the friends would say.
Cultural conflicts would separate between Tahir and his family, as he’d say that “parents need a new way to raise children”. He fought with his parents because they wanted him to be a doctor, but he failed with that. He only succeeded with writing poems in a magazine. His parents considered him as a failure, to the point of refusing him to marry a nurse, who they thought was going to be of a bad reputation that he, with a "bad reputation", is married to a lady with a "good reputation". so he cut contact with them, and managed to marry her in their 20s.
The coffeehouse lives with them throughout all their moments; successful love, failed love, newborn children, the death of their parents. new career changes; Taher was invited to join in creating music for movies, and Hamada pursued law through work from home. In light of life changes, and finding partners, questions would arise about the philosophy of pure love and how it can be real, maintaining a lifetime of happiness.
The same life is inherited by the new generations. Sadeq’s children are religious like him, and he wanted Sabri to take over his trading business after he died. Ibrahim wanted to marry Doraya, Tariq’s daughter.
The novel ends with the group celebrating the 70 years of friendship which seemed like a minute ago. Ismaeel thought deeply about music once played by the Rubab instrument, until Sadeq recited Surah Ad-Duhaa from the Qur'an, waking him up from his thoughts. [2]
“The page of history is turned holding beneath it all what it contains, and the love remains new forever” [2]
“We all accept death with our tongues, but it throws our heart into a place in an ultimate time” [2]
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. Mahfouz is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers in Arabic literature, along with Taha Hussein, to explore themes of existentialism. He is the only Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He published 35 novels, over 350 short stories, 26 screenplays, hundreds of op-ed columns for Egyptian newspapers, and seven plays over a 70-year career, from the 1930s until 2004. All of his novels take place in Egypt, and always mentions the lane, which equals the world. His most famous works include The Cairo Trilogy and Children of Gebelawi. Many of Mahfouz's works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films; no Arab writer exceeds Mahfouz in number of works that have been adapted for cinema and television. While Mahfouz's literature is classified as realist literature, existential themes appear in it.
The Cairo Trilogy is a trilogy of novels written by the Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, and one of the prime works of his literary career.
The Journey of Ibn Fattouma is an intermittently provocative fable written and published by Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz in 1983. It was translated from Arabic into English in 1992 by Denys Johnson-Davies and published by Doubleday.
Denys Johnson-Davies was an eminent Arabic-to-English literary translator who translated, inter alia, several works by Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, Sudanese author Tayeb Salih, Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish and Syrian author Zakaria Tamer.
Naguib Pasha Mahfouz is known as the father of obstetrics and gynaecology in Egypt and was a pioneer in obstetric fistula.
The Thief and the Dogs is one of the Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's most celebrated works. He further developed his theme of existentialism using stream-of-consciousness and surrealist techniques. It charts the life of Said Mahran, a thief recently released from jail and intent on having his vengeance on the people who put him there. The novel was published in 1961, and Said's despair reflects disappointment in revolution and new order in Egypt—as Said is not only a thief, but a kind of revolutionary anarchist.
Midaq Alley is a 1947 novel by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, first published in English in 1966. The story is about Midaq Alley in Khan el-Khalili, a teeming back street in Cairo which is presented as a microcosm of the world.
Yahya Haqqi was an Egyptian writer and novelist. Born to a middle-class family in Cairo, he was a lawyer by profession who graduated from the Cairo School of Law in 1925. Like many other Egyptian writers, such as Naguib Mahfouz and Yusuf Idris, he spent most of his life as a civil servant, supplementing his literary income; he eventually rose to become adviser to the National Library of Egypt.
The American University in Cairo Press is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East.
The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature is a literary award for Arabic literature. It is given to the best contemporary novel written in Arabic, but not available in English translation. The winning book is then translated into English, and published by American University in Cairo Press. It was first awarded in 1996 and is presented annually on December 11, the birthday of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, by the President of the American University in Cairo.
The Mirage is a 1948 Egyptian novel by Naguib Mahfouz. The novel was filmed as al-Sarab by Anwar al-Shinawi. Mahfouz has said that it is a personal novel based on his upbringing. Novel translated to English by Nancy Roberts.
Velvet is an Arabic language novel by Palestinian author Huzama Habayeb published in 2016. The book won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2017. The novel depicts several Palestinian women experiencing tragic love stories under the compelling circumstances and within the ultraconservative community of Baqa'a refugee camp in Jordan.
Ibrahim Fathi was an Egyptian writer, intellectual and critic of the 1960s. He was called the dean of leftist intellectuals; he has numerous articles and papers published in various Arabic and foreign periodicals. In addition, Fathi was briefly a part of HADETU. Fathi was honored in 2018 at the Supreme Council of Culture of Egypt for his intellectual output and role in enriching the intellectual life. In addition, Najib Mahfouz praised his writing by criticizing his works.
Mohamed Ali Rafie is an Egyptian novelist, screenwriter and writer, born in Al- Zahir neighborhood in Cairo in 1972. He has a number of printed story collections, the most famous of which are Honey Noun and The Possessiveness of Water. He started writing in the first joint book with two friends of his, entitled “The Path of the Pavements” and then followed it with a collection of short stories entitled “ Ibn Bahr” and a few years later another collection of short stories entitled “The Pomp of Water” and in the meantime he formed many literary groups with his writer friends.
Autumn Quail is a novel by the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz. It is considered to be one of his more philosophical works. The novel looks at foreignness, the past, and the everchanging reality through the character Isa Al-Dabbagh. This novel was originally published in 1962 and was later adapted into a foreign language film in 1967. The film was directed by Hussam Addein Mustafa. The novel was then translated into English in 1985 under the title "Autumn Quail."
Mirrors (Al-Maraya) is Naguib Mahfouz's 1972 novel. In it, Mahfouz creates portraits of the characters. The novel does not parallel the traditional Arabic novel, for it focuses on the characters instead of the plot in an attempt to create artistic images of people who were actual contemporaries of Mahfouz. He does this by shedding the light on the secretive and known aspects of the characters' lives and closely connecting them to the plot and the plot's effect on their lives. Additionally, Mahfouz incorporates his own opinions on these characters and the political eras they lived through.
Love in the Rain is one of Naguib Mahfouz's most popular novels. It received a lot of acclaim from critics, and readers. The novel was adapted into a film in 1975, and it was directed by Hussein Kamal, starring Mervat Amin, Ahmad Ramzi, Adel Adham, Imad Hamdi, Magda Al-Khatib, Hayat Qindil, and other notable actors.
Sugar Street, first published in 1957, is the third novel in the Cairo Trilogy by Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. In this third novel, the main character Kamal, the youngest son of Ahmad 'Abd al-Jawad who is a young child in the first and a student in the second, is a teacher.
The 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) "who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind." He is the first and only Arabic–Egyptian recipient of the prize.
Heart of the Night is an Egyptian film first released in 1989. The film is directed by Atef El Tayeb, features a screenplay by Mohsen Zayed based on the novel of the same title by Naguib Mahfouz, and stars Nour El-Sherif, and Hala Sedki. The film adapts the novel's unconventional storytelling while hewing closely to the periods in which the narrator, Jaafar Ibrahim al-Sayed, set the tale. A metaphysical allegory, the film discusses man's endless search for safe harbor since his descent into the world with original sin and free will as his eternal burdens.