Autumn Quail (Paperback)

~ Naguib Mahfouz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set during the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and the years immediately following, this 1962 novel by the Nobel laureate focuses on Isa, a senior civil servant during the last days of the monarchy, pensioned off after the upheaval for having taken bribes. "Although my mind is sometimes convinced by the revolution, my heart is always with the past. I just don't know if there can be any settlement between the two," says Isa, who abides his own peculiar moral code. Refusing to join his hypocritical friends in kowtowing to the new regime, he spurns the connections offered by his cousin Hasan, a key player in the infant republic, and becomes a nonentity; Hasan subsequently wins the hand of Isa's fiancee, Salwa, whose influential father and whose "sweet gentle expression that showed not only a kindly temperament but also an almost total lack of intelligence or warmth" makes her a coveted commodity. Isa's perhaps honorable career choice is later counterpointed by his despicable treatment of a prostitute whom he impregnatedpk , and of his barren wife. As translator Allen admits, the novel suffers from a falsely optimistic, contrived ending (Mahfouz may have been pleasing the "official cultural sector" to which he himself belonged) and from its coverage of an extended, four-year time period.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Arabic --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 1st Doubleday Ed edition (July 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385264542
• ISBN-13: 978-0385264549
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,059,127 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Revolution and after., September 8, 2002

By	Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A high placed officer looses his job after the Nasser revolution of 1952 in Egypt, because during his office he received some 'presents', as nearly everybody in some places did.
His lover leaves him. He cuts all ties with his acquaintances, becomes an alcoholic, fathers a child with a prostitute but doesn't recognize it. Will he, after all, escape out of the prison of his previous life and make the jump to a new one?
Read this beautiful story about " ... quail ... swooping in to land exhausted at the end of their long, predestined, illusory heroic flight."
A reflection on the impact of a national revolution on the life of a citizen.

4.0 out of 5 stars Dynamics from the New Egyptian order, December 27, 2002

By	M. A. ZAIDI "Ali Zaidi" (Karachi; Pakistan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Autumn Quail (Paperback)

In the Autumn Quail Mahfouz traces the relationship of the past and present within the Egyptian Revolution and the possibilities of co-operation and coexistence in the future. Autumn Quail provides the reader with the sentiments and insights on the Revolution put into play by the language of the characters which are from different social background and varying political affiliations. It plays on several themes of alienation; downfall; morality and responsibility.