Overview
Region
North Africa
Egypt
Era
Post-colonial
Language
Arabic
Genre
Fiction
About This Work
First volume of Mahfouz's epic trilogy, following the al-Jawad family in Cairo between 1917-1919. The patriarch al-Sayyid Ahmad rules his household despotically while engaging in the pleasures he denies his family.
Literary Significance
The cornerstone of Mahfouz's Nobel Prize-winning career; the most celebrated work of Arabic prose fiction