Saturday, October 31, 2015

Midaq Alley

Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
Midaq Alley is the 1966 English translation by Trevor Le Gassick of Naguib Mahfouz's 1947 novel Zuqāq al-Midaq. The story is about the people who live and work in Midaq Alley, a small back street in Cairo during World War II that represents a microcosm of the world. Filled with a rich cast of characters who, while seeming to be unaffected by the war directly, are influenced in subtle ways by the changes going on around them. One of the key figures is the orphan Hamida, a beautiful but poor young woman who, dreaming of a better life, attempts to find wealth and happiness, but is restricted in her choices by her social status and gender.
Naguib Mahfouz was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature; Midaq Alley is his most popular work. It was adapted into an award-winning Mexican film starring Salma Hayek (El Callejón de los Milagros).