Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz dies
CAIRO, Egypt – Naguib Mahfouz, who became the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novels depicting modern Egyptian life in his beloved, millennium-old corner of Islamic Cairo, died Wednesday, his doctor said. He was 94.
Mahfouz, who was accused of blasphemy by an Islamic militant and survived a stabbing attack 12 years ago, was admitted to the hospital last month after falling in his home and injuring his head. He died Wednesday morning after his health declined sharply, said Dr. Hossam Mowafi, head of a medical team supervising his treatment at the Police Hospital.
“His wife last night was whispering on his ears and he was smiling and nodding,” Mowafi said.
I read Palace Walk a couple of months ago and it has to be one of the most moving things ever, completely relevant to what’s going on today in the Arab world. I had to review some of his other work for college. Speaking of college, I’m already worried about exams. The worst thing about exams is that it kind of ruins the couple of days before, it’s hard to enjoy yourself knowing that you really need to be revising. It’s kind of like going to bed knowing that you’ve set your alarm clock and you’re going to have to wake up to the sound of construction workers yelling at each other. There’s something spiteful about exams. It’s like “Hey, I hope you enjoyed your summer, you stupid fuck! Here, sit in the world’s most depressing room with a bunch of asthmatics writing for 4 hours! Twat!”
These days I have to wake up at around 7 in the morning, which is pretty hard for me to do since I don’t usually go to bed until 3 AM. The period between midnight and 3 is usually spent deleting spam and upgrading other blogs I host, because I’m a very fun person. I should probably stop leaving my computer on all the time, it’s beginning to give out that low hum of what seems to be a World War 2-era air conditioner.
Someone in this dorm is a huge fan of Madonna and insists on listening to her every minute of every day. From afar she sounds like a semi-interesting stop-start guitar figure being bludgeoned into rubbishness with a big stick. She probably misses those days when she was actually inspirational. Her 1998 album inspired me to make my own music by running my finger around the top of a wine glass.
How the hell did this entry go from the death of Mahfouz to spam to Madonna? My attention span is decreasing every day. This is what happens when you live in a 5,000 channel universe.
To go back on topic, this part of the news article pissed me off:
In 1994, an attacker inspired by a militant cleric’s ruling that a Mahfouz novel written decades before was blasphemous stabbed the then-82-year-old author as he left his Cairo home.
Mahfouz survived, but the attack damaged nerves leading to his right arm, seriously impairing his ability to write. A man who had once worked for hours at a time — writing in longhand — found it a struggle to “form legible words running in more or less straight lines,” he wrote in the aftermath.
It’s sick that most people promoting religious tolerance and moderation in the Arab world either have been attacked or have to live with the constant threat and fear of being attacked. Some people, particularly religious leaders, really need to get a grip.
Join the Conversation
R.I.P Mahfouz.
I read many of his books. He brought Egypt alive in his books, which is what I liked about them.
Arguably one of the best contributors to Arabic literature. He shed a lot of light upon Egypt, too.
CNN had a special report on him. It was very moving.
What was the last thing he ever published? As an original work, not a translation.
That sucks. I’m actually really saddened by his death. He was one of the few prominent Egyptians I could look up to.