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Essay on
Midaq Alley, the novel
Naguib Mahfouz is the author of the book Midaq Alley that was translated from Arabic by Trevor Le Gassick. First published in 1966, Midaq Alley displays a historical period of Egypt in the most intimate sense as it is presented through the lives of the characters that inhabit the alley.
Written in the 1940s, this novel by the Egyptian Nobel laureate Mahfouz deals with the plight of impoverished classes in an old quarter of Cairo. The lives and situations depicted create an atmosphere of sadness and tragic realism. Indeed, few of the characters are happy or successful. Protagonist Hamida, an orphan raised by a foster mother, is drawn into prostitution. Kirsha, the owner of a cafe in the alley, is a drug addict and a lustful homosexual.
Zaita makes a living by disfiguring people so that they can become successful beggars. Transcending time and place, the social issues treated here are relevant to many Arab countries today. With this satisfying tale, Mahfouz, often called the Charles Dickens of Arabic literature achieves a high level of excellence as a novelist and storyteller.
The story speaks about the life styles of people living in a popular quarter called "Al-Midaq Alley," which is a little bigger than an alley itself. So many characters appear in the plot, and Mahfouz has done a great job describing their lives and feelings. The story is actually centered about a girl who is about to leave the alley and start a business in "prostitution." She has a lover, and the story is mainly accounting the suffering of her negligence of him and her suffering from poverty.
Although the book is set in the early forties it possesses a taste of eternity as the reader watches the characters struggle through questions of morality, ethics, and traditions. This is all perceived through the eyes of the ageless alley, which is witnessed with total indifference.....
