Thebes at War

Zusatztext “His work is imbued with love for Egypt and its people.” – The Washington Post Book World “Mahfouz is the single most important writer in modern Arabic literature.” – Newsday “Mahfouz’s understanding of human psychology and history is profound.” – The Boston Globe “A storyteller of the first order in any idiom.” – Vanity Fair Informationen zum Autor Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo in 1911 and began writing when he was seventeen. His nearly forty novels and hundreds of short stories range from re-imaginings of ancient myths to subtle commentaries on contemporary Egyptian politics and culture. Of his many works, most famous is The Cairo Trilogy, consisting of Palace Walk (1956), Palace of Desire (1957), and Sugar Street (1957), which focuses on a Cairo family through three generations, from 1917 until 1952. In 1988, he was the first writer in Arabic to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in August 2006.    Klappentext Known and loved throughout Egypt as a work that celebrates the national character, Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz's Thebes at War tells of a high point in Egyptian history-ancient Egypt's defeat of Asiatic foreigners who had dominated northern Egypt for two hundred years. With a visit from a court official and a provocative insult, the southern pharaoh's long simmering resentment boils over, leading him to commit himself and his heirs to an epic struggle for the throne. Filled with the grand clash of armies, staggering defeats, daring escapes, and glorious victories, and written at a time when Egypt was again under the sway of foreign powers, Thebes at War is a resounding call to remember Egypt's long and noble history.1 The ship made its way up the sacred river, its lotus-crowned prow cleaving the quiet, stately waves that since ancient days had pressed upon each other's heels like episodes in the endless stream of time. On either side, villages dotted the landscape, palms sprouted singly and in clusters, and greenery extended to the east and the west. The sun, high in the sky, sent out beams of light that quivered where they drenched the vegetation and sparkled where they touched the water, whose surface was empty but for a few ?shing boats that made way for the big ship, their owners staring questioningly and mistrustfully at the image of the lotus, symbol of the North. To the front of the cabin on the deck sat a short, stout man with round face, long beard, and white skin, dressed in a flowing robe, a thick stick with a gold handle grasped in his right hand. Before him sat two others as stout as he and dressed in the same fashion--three men united by a single mien. The master gazed fixedly to the south, his dark eyes consumed with boredom and fatigue, and he glared balefully at the fishermen. As though oppressed by the silence, he turned to his men and asked, "I wonder, tomorrow will the trumpet sound and will the heavy silence that now reigns over the southern regions be broken? Will the peace of these tranquil houses be shattered and will the vulture of war hover in these secure skies? Ah, how I wish these people knew what a warning this ship brings them and their master!" The two men nodded in agreement with their leader's words. "Let it be war, Lord Chamberlain," said one of them, "so long as this man whom our lord has permitted to govern the South insists on placing a king's crown on his head, builds palaces like the pharaohs, and walks cheerfully about Thebes without a care in the world!" The chamberlain ground his teeth and jabbed with his stick at the deck before him with a movement that betrayed anger and exasperation. "There is no Egyptian governor except for this, of the region of Thebes," he said. "Once rid of him, Egypt will be ours forever and the mind of our...

Product details

• Authors: Naguib Mahfouz
• Assisted by: Humphrey Davies (Translation)
• Publisher: Anchor Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 18.10.2005
• EAN: 9781400076697
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-7669-7
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 202 mm x 14 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature