The Egyptian writer, intellectual, and civil servant Naguib Mahfouz died of old age on August 30. A very prominent and sometimes controversial figure in modern Egyptian literature and society, Mahfouz became the first Arab recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.
His famous book The Cairo Trilogy was only published in English in 1991, over 30 years after it first appeared in Arabic. This is one of maybe five books I brought with me to Cairo and I regret to say I haven't finished it yet.
Al-Ahram's coverage of his passing is here. You can find the Guardian obituary here.
I took this picture of a statue of Mahfouz in Midan Sphinx (Sphinx Square).
2 comments:
everyone who wins noble prize has done exceptionally well for this earth . i am sorry for his death.
Jesse welcome to the blogosphere!
Your comments re: Reporters without Borders made me think of a cool little app a Stanford buddy of mine has developed.
Check out http://inthefieldonline.net.
Basically, it's a way for reporters (and anyone) to post to blogs or websites via their cellphones, for when they are in tricky or remote situations and do not have Internet or computer access.
Erik's a good guy.
Cheers!
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