Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
Social Issues In The Novels Of Naguib Mahfouz: A Discussion
Dr. Woazedul Hassan
Abstract
Through the fiction and writing of more than six decades, Naguib Mahfouz has filed modern Egyptian history in a chronological order and has expressed the issues like: morality, gender, inequality, social change, politics, class conflict, discrimination, exploitation, and oppression. Although Mahfouz's stories are basically set on Egyptian issues but his themes remain universal. For his productive efficiency as a writer, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1988. Mahfouz's experience of life enabled him to record and criticizes the social realities of his time. During his studies of philosophy and Arabic literature, Mahfouz was influenced by many prominent contemporary scholars during his study life such as Taha Hussein, Abbas Mahmood alAqqad, and Salama Musa, Mahfouz had learned from them to believe in science and socialism. Salama Musa, the main counselor of Mahfouz was responsible for introducing him to Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx. Therefore, Salama Musa had the major influence on Mahfouz's thoughts regarding science and socialism. Mahfouz believes in freedom of expression as he states, "I defend both the freedom of expression and society's right to counter it. I must pay the price for differing. It is the natural way of things”.
Pages: 2370-2374
Keywords: Naguib Mahfouz, Socio-cultural issues, Arabic Novels, Egyptian Society etc.