Naguib MahfouzThe Quarter by Roger Allen

Abstract

Books in Review Kébir Ammi 99 Ben Aïcha Johannes Anyuru 82 They Will Drown in Their Mothers’ Tears Elisabeth Åsbrink 78 Made in Sweden: 25 Ideas That Created a Country Bandi 90 The Red Years: Forbidden Poems from Inside North Korea Kyce Bello 87 Refugia Yonatan Berg 96 Frayed Light Maaz Bin Bilaal 97 Ghazalnama: Poems from Delhi, Belfast, and Urdu Nathan Brown 83 100 Years Reja-e Busailah 106 Poems of a Palestinian Boyhood Emmanuel Carrère 77 97,196 Words Pierre Chappuis 104 A Notebook of Clouds Sergio Chejfec 102 The Incompletes Nicholas A. Christakis 108 Blueprint:The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society Haydar Ergülen 107 Pomegranate Garden Marion Fayolle 90 The Tenderness of Stones Paulina Flores 83 Humiliation Rodrigo Fresán 81 The Dreamed Part Petina Gappah 92 Out of Darkness, Shining Light Keum Suk Gendry-Kim 93 Grass Azita Ghahreman 95 Negative of a Group Photograph Dana Gioia 98 The Catholic Writer Today Berit Glanz 110 Pixeltänzer Heddi Goodrich 109 Lost in the Spanish Quarter Isabella Hammad 110 The Parisian Michel Houellebecq 78 Serotonin Christy Lefteri 104 The Beekeeper of Aleppo Li Er 94 Ying Wu Xiong Cixin Liu 88 Supernova Era António Lobo Antunes 86 Until Stones Become Lighter Than Water Naguib Mahfouz 74 The Quarter Rodrigo Márquez Tizano 84 Jakarta Dorota Masłowska 105 Honey, I Killed the Cats Khaled Mattawa 91 Mare Nostrum Robert Menasse 87 The Capital Juan José Millás 106 From the Shadows Patrick Modiano 77 Encre sympathique Palestine +100: Stories 91 from a Century after the Nakba Salman Rushdie 75 Quichotte Isha Sesay 80 Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram Elif Shafak 76 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Shapes of Native 100 Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers Susan de Sola 103 Frozen Charlotte: Poems Burhan Sönmez 100 Labyrinth John Taylor 104 A Notebook of Ridges Wang Anyi 85 Fu Ping Kaaron Warren 84 Into Bones Like Oil Audrée Wilhelmy 96 The Body of the Beasts Gabriela Ybarra 102 The Dinner Guest Salman Rushdie’s firecracker of a novel Isha Sesay on the resilience of sisterhood Khaled Mattawa’s poetry of harrow and heartbreak Petina Gappah shines a light on empire’s darkness 75 80 91 92 WORLDLIT.ORG 73 Books in Review FEATURED REVIEW Naguib Mahfouz The Quarter Trans. Roger Allen. London. Saqi Books. 2019. 87 pages. WHEN EGYPTIAN CRITIC and noted journalist Mohamed Shoair uncovered a collection of never-before-seen stories by Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, he labeled the discovery a “literary treasure trove.” And while history has shown that manuscripts discovered after a writer’s death should be treated with a healthy amount of skepticism, The Quarter appears to be an exceptional case. Shoair uncovered the texts during a visit to Mahfouz’s family home. The writer’s daughter, Umm Kulthum, pulled out a small cardboard box that contained novel drafts and outlines, notebooks filled with political observations, contracts, and a collection of forty stories with a note that read, “Published stories written in 1993–94.” After carefully reading through the stories, however , Shoair realized that eighteen of them had not been published before and encouraged Mahfouz’s daughter to bring the stories to light. Though it is not clear why the eighteen stories were not published along with the other twenty-two, it is possible that they were forgotten during a turbulent period in Mahfouz’s life. In 1994 the then-eighty-twoyear -old novelist was stabbed in the neck by an extremist outside his Cairo home. While he survived the attack, he was permanently affected by nerve damage to his right arm. Now, twenty-five years following the assassination attempt, the collection of eighteen short stories has finally seen the light of day under the title The Quarter. Those expecting the profound realism of The Cairo Trilogy or the richly descriptive world of Midaq Alley will undoubtedly be surprised by the stories embedded in this charmingbook.TheQuarterisacollectionof interconnected, Sufi-inspired fiction—a fantastic example of the experimentalism that characterized the twilight portion of Mahfouz’s career. Instead of focusing on historical...