my favorite writer

my favorite writer is Najib mahfuz
actually i like him because he has very great method of writing and he has a lot of fantastic writings which grab readers' attention and he is very famous in west and rest countries
i had read many things for him which related to literacy
as well as we studied some of his novels in our primary school when i was in primary stage here is the biography of him

Najib Mahfuz (born 1912) was Egypt's foremost novelist and the first Arab to win the Nobel Prize in literature. He had wide influence in the Arab world and was the author from that area best known to the West in the latter half of the 20th century.

Najib Mahfuz was born in the popular quarter Hayy Al-Jamaliyya in Cairo, Egypt, on December 12, 1912, to a middle-class merchant family. During his high school years he began to read the Arabic classics as well as the Western ones that he could find in translation. He proceeded to major in philosophy at Cairo University, and after graduating in 1934 he worked his way up the bureaucracy as a civil servant. He continued to work until he retired as director of the Cinema Organization, after which he worked as a consultant to several governmental cultural organizations. He was a frequent contributor to the daily newspaper Al-Ahram, where most of his writings appeared in serial form before being published in book form. Mahfuz was married and the father of two daughters.

An avowed disciple of the pioneers of the literary Rennaisance of the early 20th century such as Al-Aqqad, Salama Musa, and Taha Husayn, Mahfuz--unlike his mentors and many of his peers--never studied abroad, and indeed infrequently traveled outside of Egypt. Therefore, his knowledge of the West and Western literary forms came primarily from his profuse readings. Mahfuz, who is sometimes referred to as the "Balzac of the Arabs," was an ardent admirer of the Russian classics. Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Dostoevsky were often quoted by him in interviews as the examples he would like to emulate.

Mahfuz's early writings have been categorized traditionally as historical in that he dealt with subjects inspired by ancient Egyptian history. In an interview to the literary magazine Al-Hawadess,Kifah TibaAbath Al-Aqdar (The Meanderings of Fate, 1938) and Radobis (1943)--were fictional stories inspired by folk epics. Mahfuz corrected this misconception by saying that only one of the early three works-- (The Struggle for Thebes, 1944)--was strictly a historical novel. The other two--

A new phase of realistic writings began with a series of novels that delved into more contemporary subject matter and characters. Al-Qahira Al-Jadida (New Cairo, 1945) ushered in the genre of novels that more specifically come to be associated with the author. Most of the novels after these bear names of the old-time quarters of Cairo, names that resonate with a continuous history of over a thousand years. Khan Al-Khalil (1946), Zuqaq al-Midaq (1947), and his trilogy, Al-ThulathiaBayn al-Qasrayn, Qasr al-Shauq, Al-Sukkariyya), recall throbbing arteries of a great city. (comprising

This epoch-making trilogy, considered his masterpiece and written between 1946 and 1952, traces the radical changes undergone by a Cairene bourgeois family dominated by the declining figure of its tyrannical patriarch, Ahmad Abd a-Jawad. In this trilogy, Mahfuz painstakingly follows the changes taking place in Egyptian society and identity through the lives of the members of this extended family. The cultural and ideological turmoil that Egypt experienced after the turn of the century came to a head by the end of World War II. It was masterfully handled by Mahfuz through his characters, who range in their ideologies from the extreme right fundamentalists of the Muslim Brothers to the extreme Leftists fighting British colonialism and seeking independence for a free Egypt. The trilogy was considered a distinctive contribution to world literature in that it was not an imitation of a Western model but a unique contribution of Egyptian genius. The trilogy was awarded Egypt's highest literary honor in 1957.

Al-Sarab (The Mirage, 1948) is generally looked upon as a turning point in Mahfuz's development. Here he probes into psychological considerations for the understanding of his characters' behavior. Bidaya wa Nihaya (The Beginning and the End, 1949) also belongs to this phase

In an area of the world where literacy is still not widespread, radio, cinema, and television play a crucial role in the education and entertainment of the people. Many of the writings of Mahfuz have been successfully adapted to the screen and stage. This enabled him to become widely known and admired throughout the Arab world. Mahfuz also wrote many scripts for works of other writers, which may perhaps explain the mastery of cinematic techniques that is manifest in his own writings. moreover,the arabic schools teaching his works and abide by his methods of education ,so, i influenced by this writer and liked to read his writings when i was in Egypt because i had study there (secondary school)