The representations of journalists in Naguib Mahfouz’s novellas: How are they reflected in today’s journalism in Egypt?

Abstract

This interdisciplinary study explores representations of journalists linking literary criticism with media cultural studies. The researcher examines works from the sixties by Nobel laureate writer and novelist Naguib Mahfouz. While the article concentrates on Mahfouz’s works dealing with journalism, it presents a qualitative analysis of three novellas of his from the sixties: The Thief and the Dogs, The Beggar and A Drift on the Nile. In these works, Mahfouz presents cogent and well-founded arguments on the image of the Egyptian journalists, which manifest itself until now. The article argues that the psychological and social aspects of journalism that Mahfouz delineates are recalled nowadays in the vast, ubiquitous mediascape Egypt inhabits as evidence of the self-perpetuated nature of the masterful Egyptian culture. In this work Norman Fairclough’s model of discourse analysis is employed to survey the roles and characteristics of journalists in a context of power and ideology during President Nasser’s regime and shows not only how they are similar to those of journalists nowadays but also the evolution of journalists under el-Sisi neo-authoritarianism. It also draws on the thoughts of theorists like Lucien Goldmann, mainly the concept of ‘world vision’ to inspect the problem of the identity of Egyptian journalism. The study concludes that these three novels show journalists’ negative image as traitors, subservient to political power, sellers of trivia or full of nihilism. Mahfouz’s representations reflect the outputs of Egyptian media milieu under authoritarian Nasser’s era. The article reflects upon contemporary authoritarian regime in Egypt, discussing the types of media practitioners currently exist who almost repeat the almost-closed cultural circle, only with a complete control of intelligence apparatus.