Fountain and Tomb

كنت اظن قبل ان اقرأ هذه الرواية ان الكتاب الروس لا يضاهون في قدرتهم على الكتابه، لكني اجد نفسي اتراجع عن هذا الموقف امام العظيم نجيب محفوظ الذي جعلني اقرأ روايته بنهم ومتعه لا يجاريها شئ، الجبلاوي ادهم جبل رفاعة قاسم عرفة ، قدرة مذهلة على سرد التفاصيل المشوقة لقصه هدفها فهم الحياة وغايتها، واخيرا في صفحات الملحمة الاخيرة يخبرنا نجيب محفوظ عن سر شقائنا وسعادتنا فحتى لو كان عرفه هو من قتل الجبلاوي او لم يكن show more فسحره فيه خلاصنا . show less

Revolution, specifically revolution thwarted, is a prominent theme of Naguib Mahfouz’s allegorical novel Children of the Alley (Awlad Haritna), which depicts the multi-generational struggle of the descendants of the patriarch Gabalawi against social, political, and economic injustice. Gabal, Rifaa, Qassem, and Arafa – become the leaders of four revolutionary movements – identifiable as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and science – that promise to usher in new eras of equality and prosperity. Despite the initial success of these movements, the gains of each are eventually overturned, giving rise to new beliefs and necessitating new revolutions. This process repeats itself with no end in sight.

In the stories of Gabal, Qassem, and show more Arafa, Mahfouz reveals how revolutionaries find it necessary to adopt the values they had intended to challenge in order to engage the enemy on equal terms. In such cases, these revolutions often fail to transform society because their tactics reinforce existing power structures even as their ideologies work to subvert them.

The story of Rifaa provides a very different perspective on the failure of revolution to achieve lasting change in the social and economic order. Having determined that the other revolutions failed to achieve justice because they were insufficiently transformative, one might expect that Rifaa’s revolution, which is, in many respects, the most transformative of any contained within the novel, would achieve a greater measure of success. However, it is precisely Rifaa’s refusal to adopt any of society’s dominant values that dooms his revolution. His revolution fails because it cannot provide individuals with a meaningful way to interact with the existing system in hopes of improving their condition within society.

The novel’s refrain that humans are cursed to forget the lessons of the past and forced to relearn them continually through hardship reveals a deeply pessimistic worldview that calls into question the very suggestion that injustice can be ameliorated through revolution against the existing order by individuals who are so enmeshed in this order that they personify its values even in rebellion.

I found this book depressing and rather fatalistic - are we doomed, no matter what we do? Although religion comes in for a drubbing, science does not necessarily come off looking any better, as the tools of modern science lead to modern warfare and killings on a scale never before seen.

The role of women in this novel was also somewhat disturbing, as they figure almost exclusively as the betrayers of great men or the teachers/mothers of men who convey incomplete knowledge that is only perfected when applied by the male revolutionaries.

But it was an interesting book and I enjoyed the writing style - the story worked as both a multi-generational human saga and as an allegory of human intellectual/religious history. show less

wont get fooled again ..

this book in the surface is a Biblical allegory, yet is very deep and profound about the comments it makes on religion and society. you see this consistent pattern of prophets (jesus, mohammed/etc) temporarily fixing society with a couple new rules and a few exemplary deeds. then a few years later society falls back into the same set of problems it started with and are really not much better off than before just like in the Who song.

The fictional history of a gebelawi (alley/neighborhood) in Cairo, but it's really an elaborate allegory for/retelling of Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad. At first I loved it, and that love sustained me through the Cain & Abel section and through the first part of the Moses bit, but then the variation in the saga (and it is, as it seems to me, much longer than it needs to be) leaked out and I lost interest. It's clever to a point, and I think the cleverness would have won out with a bit more editing.

من أجمل ما كتب عمنا نجيب، حكايات غاية في الرقة والعذوبة لا تخلو من حكمة نافذة وصورة صادقة.

A really interesting concept, well-executed. (Nobel Prize winner, so go figure.) That concept was also a permanent distraction, however. Especially when the plot would deviate from the 'real' story. Although the deviations did at least keep it all from being totally predictable. For the second-to-last chapter, I know basically nothing about the theme, but even then I kept wondering which bits would be familiar if I did, and just generally felt guilty for knowing so little. Subplots involving supporting characters in that second-to-last section were clear just from current events, though. Really interesting look at another culture as well, since the issues of modern Egypt bled through. Brings up thoughts about how the story would go if show more written by someone in another -- any other -- country. show less

This is a challenging, complex novel set in Cairo. It follows one generation after another, descendants of a feudal lord, who are in constant, violent conflict. Saviors arrive in different time periods, trying to put an end to the brutality, but each is defeated or before long the violence returns. It would be seen as the endless struggle between good and evil, but the odds usually seem to be with evil. Sometimes the unfamiliar names and the constant references to those in the past made it difficult to follow. Sometimes, I suspect, the translation was a bit awkward. Interesting concept - but felt like it was work to stick with it.