Book Review: Three Novels Of Ancient Egypt by Naguib Mahfouz - Page 2

In each novel the author shows us the talent emerging that will one day produce a body of work worthy of a Nobel Prize. In each instance we are seeing his work through the eyes and ears of his translators, so a certain amount of trust is involved that they accurately represented him. But since that is case with any foreign language author there's not much you can do about it.

The style of writing may sound strange to our ears, as it has an ornate quality not normally heard in the English novel anymore. Differences that may disconcert the reader a little are the use of descriptive phrases in a manner that is unfamiliar, and until your ear adjusts may sound overly melodramatic or flamboyant. "The listeners were delighted, their blood gladdened in a swoon of gaiety and glory, and contentment glowed on Pharaoh's strong, manly features."

To our ears that might sound a little over the top as a means of saying that everybody liked the news, but it elevates the subject matter above the commonplace. One of the conventions of Classical literature is that it was believed the language used had to be elevated appropriate to the subject matter of the nobility it depicted. Lesser men and women were considered to speak a more rudimentary form of the language and would be depicted accordingly.

The subject matter dealt with the fates and how, through either strength or weakness of character, they gain success or failure. When Aristotle observed the conventions of the playwrights during his time he noted that in all tragedies the hero was brought down by a fatal flaw in his character and would lose his or her elevated place in society by her own actions and the flouting of the way things should be.

In each of the three novels presented in this omnibus, Mahfouz utilized this convention to act as the fulcrum on which the story balances. Will the Pharaoh succumb to impatience and attempt to scour the land in search of the child who it is said will inherit his throne instead of his son in Khufu's Wisdom? At first he does and the result is the death of an innocent. His eldest son, the one with the most to lose in the case of the Pharaoh's children not inheriting kills the wrong child, as of course the right one has escaped.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

Visit Richard Marcus's author page — Richard Marcus's Blog