By Aisyah Zuman Khan
Naguib Mahfouz was a leading Arabic author who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. Most of his writings depict the reality of Egyptians in the 20th century and he was considered by many as a writer who understood the depths of distress experienced by Egyptians.
Midaq Alley is the first novel by Mahfouz that I read and I personally believe that the novel provided great insight into important issues in Egypt at the time. The novel depicts the lives of residents in a poor alley of Cairo, Egypt during the Second World War.
Interestingly enough, although it is a fictitious novel, the alley is based on a real place that Mahfouz regularly visited when he was younger. In the novel, the characters are constantly dealing with conflicts of modernity and tradition due to colonisation, specifically breaking away from old or traditional beliefs and practices.
The protagonist, Hamida, is a beautiful young woman who desires to escape the alley as she refuses to live according to the conventional practices of the people there. The inhabitants desperation to break free from their circumstances causes disorder among themselves.
After reading the novel, I found that Mahfouz touched on quite a few topics that many would believe to be a taboo in Egypt especially in the early 20th century. They are homosexuality and prostitution. Upon realising the existence of such topics in the novel, I knew that there were more to the characters than what Mahfouz portrayed on the surface. For instance, Hamida is a strong-headed woman who is not afraid of going against traditional beliefs to live a more modern life.
Although that is the case, she is depicted as very dependent on men because she wants to wed a wealthy guy who can provide her with her wants and needs. She eventually falls into a trap and is offered to sell her body to which she willingly accepts. This may indicate that Hamida is a symbol of the country itself, in that Egypt was changing/evolving and so did Egyptian womens thoughts.
On the other hand, we have the married man, Kirsha. A homosexual who takes interest in younger men. I find it utterly amusing that a prominent Arabic writer in the 20th century covered topics that people at the time would have deemed horrendous and this definitely piqued my interest. Most of Mahfouzs characters are well developed albeit some are a bit unexpected.
Unfortunately, I believe that the number of characters and subplots are overwhelming for readers. As aforementioned, the novel depicts the lives of people in the alley. Hence, the storyline grows a bit heavy since each character is unique and appears in multiple/different subplots.
Essentially, I think some characters are, for the lack of a better term, unnecessary. For example, Zaita the cripple maker and Salim Alwan, an old married man who desires to marry Hamida. Both characters not only possess their subplots, but Zaita for instance, is also associated with the couple who owns a bakery which is already another story on its own.
Meanwhile, Salim Alwan takes up more than one chapter even though his story is relatively insignificant to that of Hamida, the protagonist. Despite the novel being an easy read, the exhaustive number of characters and subplots may confuse readers since they would expect to solely focus on Hamida.
Moreover, certain characters are not even given a clear end to their stories. Take Jaada the baker and Ibrahim Faraj the pimp as examples. Jaada plays a minor role in the novel but his character has an interesting story because he lives with an abusive wife. It would have been intriguing to see how his character developed just to give closure as to how he manages to survive as an abused husband. Ibrahim Faraj on the other hand, plays the role in the finishing chapters. Even Faraj who caused chaos and misery to Hamida is not given a clear end which would have made the ending clearer and more resolved.
Although certain areas could have been improved, I believe that Midaq Alley is an impressive book to have been written in the first half of the 20th century. Mainly because the author touched on topics that Egyptians at the time would have considered unacceptable.
This novel will enable readers to see Mahfouzs views on issues among Egyptians through the manner he portrayed different situations and characters. Great focus should absolutely be placed on Mahfouzs use of symbolism throughout the novel.
I personally suggest this novel to readers who enjoy reading between the lines and are willing to be unbiased or neutral when they come across portrayals that may seem conventional. ***
(The views expressed in the article are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of IIUMToday.)