Essays of the Sadat Era: The Non-Fiction of Naguib Mahfouz

This volume of articles written by Naguib Mahfouz between 1971 and 1981 serves as a portrait of a volatile period in Egypt’s history, which began with the Corrective Revolution and the Yom Kippur War with Israel and ended with the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat.

In these essays of the Sadat era, published in the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, Mahfouz seems an unreliable narrator. The tension between an author who rails against censorship, yet is bound within its confines, runs through this fascinating body of nonfiction writing. Nonetheless, Mahfouz’s own thoughts are unmistakably present. We gain his insight into diverse political topics, such as socioeconomic class, democracy and dictatorship, and Islam and extremism, topics which still seem highly pertinent to the situation in Egypt today.

A vital accompaniment to his literature, this collected work is contemporaneous with Mahfouz’s fictional works such as Karnak Café, The Harafish, and Arabian Nights and Days. Essays of the Sadat Era is the second of four volumes in which Mahfouz’s nonfiction work is translated into English for the first time.