Essays on Midaq Alley

(EXAMPLES OF NAGUIB MAHFOUZ’S NOVEL MIDAQ ALLEY AND SIMIN DANESHVAR’S NOVEL SAVASHUN) Historians tend to use only official documents out of subjective point of view in order to create historical picture truthfully, especially for the analysis of recent events. Researchers turn to fiction only in the absence of more reliable sources. Nevertheless, both literature and history are two forms of self-reflection and self-expression of the society. Unfortunately, only an exemplary role was assigned to literature in studying the history of modern and contemporary times. But I strongly believe that the new directions of historical thought have to ...

Literature and history are forms of self-reflection, self-expression of society, their main topic. Like in historical research much depends on the intuition of the historian, writers and literary critics at the unconscious level are capable of deep comprehension of life. Traditionally, researchers have turned to fiction only in the absence of more reliable sources. In studying the history of modern and contemporary time only an exemplary role was assigned to literature, but new directions of historical thought are changing attitude to the source. The artistic image, as a rule, is characterized by accuracy and persuasiveness; and it facilitates the ...

Some novels follow the story of one character as he or she overcomes external and internal obstacles. Midaq Alley, by Naguib Mahfouz, is not such a novel. MIdaq Alley is a novel about a place, and it follows it with the same intimacy that many other narrative novels follow a person. The title of the novel is a reference to the setting, a novel about a street of exciting happenings as “everyday” Egyptians face building their lives in a post-World War II setting. But the novel is about more than just a single street in Cairo. The way that the characters cope speaks to and of the Middle ...