Children of the Alley: A Novel [Paperback]

Naguib Mahfouz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 1996

There are nineteen works of fiction currently available in paperback from Anchor. Because of the many universal themes of Mahfouz's work, and the variety of titles from which one can choose, this guide has been designed to provide you with questions that can apply to any or all of the books by Mahfouz which you choose to read.   The questions offer new perspectives and context for your conversations. Although each of Mahfouz's novels is a unique reading experience, in an effort to guide you in making a selection, it is suggested that you might particularly be interested in one of the four following titles, each of which represents a different decade of his career: Palace Walk (1956), Midaq Alley (1966), The Harafish (1977), and The Journey of Ibn Fattouma (1983).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in Arabic in 1959, Mahfouz's multigenerational saga presents an allegorical look at spirituality.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Gabalawi's mansion sits at the desert's edge, surrounded by high-walled gardens. His sons, however, quarrel over his estate, and the omnipotent gangster banishes them from his earthly paradise. Their descendants settle outside the wall, desperately poor but always praying to Gabalawi for salvation. As each succeeding generation spawns its messiah, the people rise up against the ruling gangsters, seizing their portion of the estate, but greed and ignorance prove their ultimate undoing, poverty and suffering their inescapable fate. Mahfouz masterly unfolds this timeless story of oppression and a people's longing for deliverance from themselves. As in The Harafish (LJ 4/15/94), he focuses on how principle is coopted by mob psychology and all good works are subject to the entropy of corruption. This novel, which begs for religious allegory, is highly recommended for all collections.?Paul E. Hutchison, Bellefonte, Pa.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 1st Anchor Books Ed edition (October 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385264739
• ISBN-13: 978-0385264730
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

123 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A tale of two translations, February 29, 2000

By 

Pipistrel (Oxford United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children of the Alley: A Novel (Paperback)

No one should buy this translation without first checking out the original version made in 1962 with the help of the author and in print since 1981. An updated version of this was published in 1997 as Children of Gebelaawi. The reason why there are two published versions is that after the threats to Mahfuz's life made in 1989 in the wake of the Rushdie affair, because of this novel, the translator (and author of this review), P J Stewart refused to sell his copyright to Doubleday for a world-wide relaunch, considering it more prudent to continue quietly publishing with the original American publisher, now renamed Passeggiata Press. The unsuccessful attempt on Mahfuz made in October 1994 confirmed the wisdom of this decision. The American University of Cairo Press, which owns the world rights, then commissioned Peter Theroux to make a new translation. However, Passeggiata continued to have the US paperback rights, which had been granted to it in 1981 (and in apparent violation of which Doubleday has published its paperback in the USA). As the translator of Children of Gebelaawi, I cannot decently comment on the quality of Theroux' version. Some people may like his use of English, which does not appeal to me. I have found various gross errors of translation of the Arabic, but no doubt a careful study of my version would find similar mistakes; neither of us is a native Arabic speaker. However, it does worry me that in some places he has made a mistake that was in my 1981 edition and which I have since corrected; at least one of these is such an improbable 'howler' that I cannot believe he did not use my translation. Theroux' version lacks an introduction, and I consider this a grave lacuna. The history of the book is deeply interesting in itself and needs to be told. The novel also needs some explaining: why did Mahfuz, the deep psychological observer, write a book so apparently lacking in subtlety; and what is the secret message of the book? All this is tackled in the extensive introduction to Children of Gebelaawi. One more point: Theroux, like all other translators, uses the Arabic text published, without the author's participation, in Beirut in 1967. It is full of typos, but also - mysteriously - it includes words and whole sentences missing from the original Egyptian serialization, suggesting that the publisher had access to the missing manuscript. Children of Gebelaawi is the only version in any language to be based on both the source texts.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A disturbing approach to the history of mankind, June 11, 1999

By 

Ahmet E. Gumrukcuoglu - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children of the Alley: A Novel (Paperback)

"Children of the Alley" (AKA "Children of Gabalawi") is both a realistic and an allegorical novel that consists of two stories simultaneously. On the year the book began to be published as a serial in Al-Ahram, it was banned for ten years, after which it was published for the first time in book format in Beirut. The story, as I mentioned, has two faces. The first is that of an enormous family and its descendants. And the second is the religious history of mankind, with the prophets, the legends, and in the end, the scientific revolution. The background is the "Gabalawi Alley", which has a unique role, just like the "Midaq Alley", or the alley in "The Harafish". I can say without a doubt that Mahfouz is "Proust of the Arabs".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good & Evil in the Egyptian Alley East of Eden, August 30, 2006

By 

Chou Chou Renate "Renate" (South of France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children of the Alley: A Novel (Paperback)

Not sure if I read the politically correct translation but I was impressed by this book. The story is very strikingly told as a simple and hauntingly familiar fable. Historical references are fused with a miasma of religious inferences that manage to seem both biblical, Pharoanic, historical and modern at the same time. We are smitten with the book's stark similarities to Old Testament religious texts. One is then reminded of the vast amount of fabled material each of today's religions has pilfered from the papyri of the Pharaohs.

A good read in English, but it is a book you can put down and pick up without chagrin.

I am sad to hear of the death of the Author and wish him a good rest in the Heaven of his choice.