Arabic’s must read

A late work by the Egyptian Nobel literature laureate, Morning and Evening Talk is an epic tale of Egyptian life over five generations. Set in Cairo, it traces the fortunes of three families from the arrival of Napoleon at the end of the eighteenth century to the 1980s, using short character sketches arranged in alphabetical order. This highly experimental device produces a kind of biographical dictionary, whose individual entries come together to paint a vivid portrait of life in Cairo from a range of different perspectives. The characters include representatives of every class and human type, and as the intricate family saga unfolds, a powerful picture of a society in transition―and the accompanying upheaval―emerges. This is a tale of change and continuity, of the death of a traditional way of life, of the road to independence and beyond, seen through the eyes of Egypt’s citizens. Naguib Mahfouz’s last chronicle of Cairo is an elegy to a bygone era and a tribute to the Egyptian spirit. It is also one of his most technically innovative contributions to the Arabic novel.

The novel is set between 1956 and 1961, and tells of the experiences in love and politics of four Bahraini young men studying at university in Cairo. This novel caused a sensation when first published in Arabic. With extraordinary frankness, it relates the experiences of the young men before returning to their home countries in the Gulf. They have left the protection of family and community for the first time and face many totally unexpected challenges. Released from the restraints of strict religious conservatism they find themselves plunged into the easy-going ways of Cairo. The free mingling of the sexes is the most bewildering change they must adapt to. They also find themselves challenged by new political ideas - Arab nationalism, Baathist ideology, Communism, secularism and Nasserism. The novel begins with the attempt to destroy Nasserism - when Britain, France and Israel collude in late 1956 to invade Egypt in reprisal for the nationalization of the Suez Canal. The young men react in a variety of ways to this sudden eruption of violence into Egypt. Throughout the novel the author gives a powerful account of the dramatic political events of the late 1950s in the Arab world. The young men described are fictional but symbolize the process of development of a generation of young men who, before the great oil boom, were sent abroad from their highly traditional home countries to face the new world of revolutionary Egypt.

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