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Children of the Alley

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Brief Description
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Naguib Mahfouz offers this epic story of a single alley in Cairo and the generations that passed through it. A tumultuous neighbourhood known as 'the alley' has seen successive heroes rise and fall as they struggle to defend the... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Naguib Mahfouz offers this epic story of a single alley in Cairo and the generations that passed through it.

A tumultuous neighbourhood known as 'the alley' has seen successive heroes rise and fall as they struggle to defend the rights left to them by their great ancestor, Gebelawi.

From the supreme feudal lord who disowns one son for pride and puts another to the test, to the saviour who tries to free his people from bondage, the men and women of the alley seem unable to stop themselves from reenacting the lives of their holy forbearers. Through their successes and failures, the spiritual history of humankind is revealed.

Hailed as β€˜the single most important writer in modern Arabic literature’ (Newsweek), Naguib Mahfouz displays the richness and variety of his storytelling in this Egyptian literary classic.

β€˜A powerful allegory of human suffering and striving.’ New York Times

β€˜Immensely entertaining and deeply serious.’ Chicago Tribune

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035907311

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 September 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Apollo

Contributors:

  • Translated by Peter Theroux

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 38.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 214.0mm

Weight: 403g

Pages: 576

About the Author

Naguib Mahfouz was one of the most prominent authors of Arabic fiction in the twentieth-century. He was born in Cairo in 1911 and began writing when he was seventeen. A student of philosophy and an avid reader, he was influenced by many Western writers, including Flaubert, Balzac, Zola, Camus, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and, above all, Proust. He had more than thirty novels to his credit, ranging from his early historical romances to his later experimental novels. In 1988, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Mahfouz died in 2006.

Peter Theroux is the author of Sandstorms: Days and Nights in Arabia (1990) and Translating LA (1994). He is the translator of several major Arabic novels. He lives in suburban Los Angeles.

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