Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouzwas an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published 34 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Many of his works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films...
NationalityEgyptian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth11 December 1911
CityCairo, Egypt
CountryEgypt
I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.
I wake up early in the morning and walk for an hour. If I have something to write, I prefer to write in the morning until midday, and in the afternoon, I eat.
If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.
I started writing while I was a little boy. Maybe it's because I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday. Also, my love for good writing pushed me.
Writing is for men who can think and feel, not mindless sensation seekers out of nightclubs and bars. But these are bad times. We are condemned to work with upstarts, clowns who no doubt got their training in a circus and then turned to journalism as the appropriate place to display their tricks.
When you spend time with your friends, what do you talk about? Those things which made an impression on you that day, that week ... I write stories the same way. Events at home, in school, at work, in the street, these are the bases for a story. Some experiences leave such a deep impression that instead of talking about them at the club I work them into a novel.
The Arab world also won the Nobel with me.
I was reading a lot of books I admired, and thought that I would like to write something like that someday.
It's not surprising that truly humanitarian manifestos originate frequently in minority circles or with people whose consciences are troubled by the problems of minorities.
History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.
As the tension eases, we must look in the direction of agriculture, industry and education as our final goals, and toward democracy under Mr Mubarak.
In the calculus of good deeds you have the most to gain.
I am the son of two civilizations that at a certain age in history have formed a happy marriage. The first of these, seven thousand years old, is the Pharaonic civilization; the second, one thousand four hundred years old, is the Islamic civilization.
I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised.