Full name: Children of the Alley: A Novel

Author: Naguib Mahfouz Year: 1959 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Purchase/reserch links: Amazon Goodreads LibraryThing ISBNs: 9780385264730 0385264739

The history of a Cairo alley through several generations. Successive heroes struggle to restore the rights of the people to the trust fund set up by their ancestor Gebelaawi, usurped by embezzlers and tyrants. Mahfouz creates in all its detail a world on the frontier between the real and the imaginary. At a deeper level, the book is an allegory whose heroes relive the lives of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed. Their appearance in a modern context invites the reader to see them as human beings relevant to the present day, not as remote sacred figures - to the consternation of some traditionalists. Most controversial is the significance of Gebelaawi, the immensely long-lived patriarch. Mahfouz himself has said that his character represents "not God, but a certain idea of God that men have made", standing for the god of those who forget the absolute transcendence of God affirmed by Islam. Similar books: Respected Sir by Naguib Mahfouz The Beginning and the End by Naguib Mahfouz The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz The Day the Leader Was Killed by Naguib Mahfouz Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz Wedding Song by Naguib Mahfouz Beer in the Snooker Club by Waguih Ghali Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz God Dies By the Nile by Nawal El Saadawi The Search by Naguib Mahfouz