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Autumn Quail

Naguib Mahfouz
Chapters (40)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. INTRODUCTION
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. THIRTY
  36. THIRTY-ONE
  37. NOTES
  38. Naguib Mahfouz
  39. BOOKS BY NAGUIB MAHFOUZ
  40. What’s next onyour reading list?

Cover

cover image

Title Page

cover image title image

Copyright

ANANCHOR BOOK

PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY

a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103

ANCHOR BOOKS, DOUBLEDAY, and the portrayal of an anchor are trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

All of the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This English translation was first published by The American University in Cairo Press in 1985.

First published in Arabic as Al-Summan wal-Kharif in 1962.

Protected under the Berne Convention.

The Anchor Books edition is published by arrangement with The American University in Cairo Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Maḥfūẓ, Najīb, 1911–

|Summān wa-al-kharīf. English|

Autumn quail / Naguib Mahfouz; translated by Roger Allen; revised by John Rodenbeck.—1st Doubleday ed.

p.   cm.

Translation of: al-Summān wa-al-kharīf.

I. Title.

PJ7846.A46S923   1990   89-48671

892′.736—dc20                          CIP

ISBN 0385264534

ISBN 0385264542 (pbk.)

eBook ISBN 9780525431664

Copyright © 1985 by The American University in Cairo Press

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Dedication

To Mary

INTRODUCTION

The stature which Naguib Mahfouz has earned as the Arab world’s most illustrious novelist is well captured by ‘Abd al-Rahman Yaghi when he entitles the fourth chapter of his book Al-Juhud al-Riwa’iyya (Endeavors in the Novel, 1972) “The Novel’s Establishment Stage, in other words the Naguib Mahfouz Stage.” Several studies of his works in English have by now been added to the myriad books, articles, and interviews on him which have appeared throughout the Arab world itself. While he is not yet as well known to Western readers as some other famous non-Western writers, several of his works are available in English and a number of others are to appear shortly.*

The word for “establishment” in Yaghi’s title quoted above is ta’sil, which literally implies giving something roots. That describes very well the role which Mahfouz has played in the development of the modern Arabic novel. Throughout a long career he has indeed laid the groundwork for the emergence of this most taxing and variegated genre and then proceeded to experiment with a number of forms and techniques. Some scholars have chosen to divide his works into “phases,” each one with its specific characteristics; others have preferred to illustrate the continuum of themes which occupy the author’s mind, pointing out at the same time that features of these “phases” will often have been presaged in earlier writings. In spite of the differences between these viewpoints, both acknowledge that Mahfouz has been constantly striving to find new ways to express his vision of Egypt’s present and therefore its past and future. This remains as true of his most recent writings, where, in addition to his continuing experiments with multi-sectional works and a variety of narrative voices, we find echoes of earlier Arabic literature, such as The Thousand and One Nights and the travels of Ibn Battuta.