[ppi] [ppiindia] Mahfouz and his literary 'diwans'

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5299686.stm

Last Updated: Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 19:22 GMT 20:22 UK 


      Mahfouz and his literary 'diwans'  
            By Penny Spiller 
            BBC News  






      Up until a fall in July that put him in hospital, Egyptian laureate 
Naguib Mahfouz, who has died aged 94, could be found on almost any given night 
with friends at one of his many literary haunts around Cairo. 

             
            Naguib Mahfouz suffered poor hearing in later years 

      It was a tradition that began decades ago, when he and his fellow writers 
and poets would gather in the city's many coffee shops, restaurants and hotels 
to mull over the issues of the day. 

      In later years, these gatherings or "diwans" would attract a new crowd - 
thinkers from a broad spectrum of professions who kept the ageing writer in 
touch with the changing world. 

      They would also become an opportunity for fans to spend some time in the 
company of the only Arabic writer to have been awarded the Nobel Prize for 
literature, which he won in 1988. 

      Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, who knew Mahfouz well, said the meetings 
allowed people to pay "a kind of homage" to "the grand old man of Egyptian 
literature". 

            The [gatherings] were a way of keeping his spirits up after the 
stabbing, and it worked - it did have the effect of keeping him in touch with 
the world 

            Raymond Stock
            Naguib Mahfouz's biographer 

      "People held him in great affection. He was a very big deal. People could 
be in his presence for a bit," she said. 

      She said he had lived long enough to see his legacy come into effect. 
"There is nobody writing in Arabic today that has not been influenced by him," 
she said. 

      Appreciation 


      But old age and deteriorating hearing and eyesight limited his ability to 
contribute to the gatherings in later years. 

      He often had a friend sitting next to him who would shout loudly in his 
ear about what was going on, which made the meetings surreal at times. 

             
            Many of Mahfouz's novels were set in his beloved Cairo 

      Khalid Kishtainy, an Iraqi journalist and writer based in London who has 
attended several such gatherings, was asked at one to read out his latest 
published work. 

      "I sat next to him and tried to read, but he couldn't hear me - I think 
he found my Iraqi accent difficult, but also I didn't shout loud enough," he 
explained. 

      "In the end, one of his prompters said he would read it out. But Mahfouz 
showed great appreciation of my work, and laughed at all the funny bits." 

      Raymond Stock, Mahfouz's American biographer and friend of 14 years, said 
the writer would often go into what he called his "screen-saver mode". 

      "He would seem to be asleep, but he was very much aware of what was going 
on," he said. 

      "On one occasion, a mosquito landed on his forehead and a friend raised 
his hand to swat it away. Naguib looked up and said: 'What do you want to hit 
me for?'" 

      Naim Sabry, an Egyptian poet and novelist and another long-time friend, 
says it was his nature to say little. "He was a very good listener. He 
concentrated," Mr Sabry said. 

      Progressive thinker 

      The "diwans" were the brainchild of renowned Egyptian psychologist and 
long-time friend of Mahfouz, Dr Yehia el-Rakkhawi. 

      It followed Mahfouz's stabbing by an Islamist extremist in 1994 who had 
been inspired by a fatwa issued over the writer's portrayal of God in one of 
his novels decades earlier. 

      Mahfouz spent several weeks in hospital and suffered damaged nerves that 
limited his ability to write. 

             
            Mahfouz will be remembered as a novelist first, says Ahdaf Soueif 

      The gatherings "were a way of keeping his spirits up after the stabbing. 
And it worked. It did have the effect of keeping him in touch with the world," 
Mr Stock said. 

      Informal affairs, the "diwans" were attended by a small group of regulars 
as well as journalists, doctors and engineers among others. 

      They were held at a different location each night - most often at one of 
the hotels in downtown Cairo - and each one had a slightly different political 
emphasis. 

      "The more pro-Western liberals tended to come on Sundays, while those 
with more opposing views would attend on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays were 
more mixed," Mr Stock said. 

      Thursdays were invitation-only, for his closest group of friends known as 
the Harafish ("riff-raff"), while on Saturdays he would receive people at home. 

      Mr Sabry says there is talk of keeping the gatherings going in memory of 
their friend. But he thinks it is unlikely they will carry on for very long. 

      "Naguib was the core of the gatherings and it will be strange without him 
there," he said. 

      Mahfouz continued to write, by dictation, up until he fell ill, adding to 
an output that included more than 30 novels and more than 100 short stories, as 
well as numerous articles and film scripts. 

           NAGUIB MAHFOUZ FACTS 
            1911: Born in Cairo
            1934: Graduated in philosophy from Cairo University 
            1959: Al-Azhar, one of the most important Islamic institutions in 
the world, bans novel because it includes characters representing God and the 
prophets
            1988: First and only Arab to win Nobel Prize for literature
            1994: Mahfouz stabbed in the neck by Islamist militant angered by 
his work


            Obituary: Naguib Mahfouz  

      He became famous for his vivid portrayals of life in his beloved city and 
Egypt's experience of colonialism and authoritarianism. 

      He was considered a progressive thinker who was a strong advocate for 
moderation and religious tolerance, which often pitted him against 
conservatives in Egypt. 

      Mr Stock said he detected a shift in the writer's political views in the 
last few years over US foreign policy, particularly over the "war on terror". 

      "He was very much against it. He had a simple view that if you remove the 
injustice, there will be no more trouble," he said. 

      "But he was wise. On one occasion, someone was attacking the idea of the 
US proposing democracy in the Middle East, and it was pointed out that Egypt 
had once had democracy, and people wanted it again. 

      "'We agree about democracy,' Mahfouz said. 'Sometimes our interests are 
the same,'" Mr Stock recalled. 

      Mr Soueif says it will be his literary, rather than political, legacy 
that will remain. 

      "He was always a novelist before anything else." 



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      BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a reading of Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy in 
the Classic Serial programme slot, starting on 15t October 2006
     


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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