At a Cairo café, a cross-section of Egyptian society, young and old, rich and poor, are drawn together by the quality of its coffee and the allure of its owner, legendary former dancer Qurunfula. When three of the young patrons disappear for prolonged periods, the older customers display varying reactions to the news. On their return, they recount horrific stories of arrest and torture at the hands of the secret police, and the habitués of the café begin to withdraw from each other in fear, suspecting that there is an informer among them. With the nighttime arrests and the devastation of the country s defeat in the 1967 War, the café is transformed from a haven of camaraderie and bright-eyed idealism to an atmosphere charged with mounting suspicion, betrayal, and crushing disillusionment. Exposing the dark underbelly of ideology, and delving into the idea of the necessary evils of social upheaval, Karnak Café remains one of the Nobel laureate's most pointedly critical works, as relevant and incisive today as it was when it was first published in 1971.
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Review
Like Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon" or Victor Serge's "The Case of Comrade Tulayev," this fierce yet subtle novel lays bare the worst evil of totalitarian states . . .In other hands this novel might have become a tract. Although every page smolders with justified fury, Mahfouz was above mere denunciation. His loving descriptions of the Karnak, with its passionate and enigmatic proprietress every café worthy of the name must have a lady with a past together with his selfeffacement before his characters, each of whom speaks in turn to the unnamed narrator, push the novel beyond simplistic categories. " --The New York Sun
"First published more than thirty years ago, but only available in English translation now, it's surprisingly (indeed, shockingly) contemporary and relevant, as the present-day Egyptian government continues to act much as its earlier incarnation does in the book. The cost, to those who are basically innocent -- generally average folk, who just want to get on with their lives -- is well-presented in Karnak Café, and though there is no radical or particularly violent reaction in the novella, it's clear that these conditions can only lead to a worse future, not a better one. A surprisingly dark book, Karnak Café is a good, quick read, combining both Mahfouz's usual presentation of the Cairo-world (though less in-depth than in most of his fiction), as well as a more bitter presentation of the conditions of the times (and misguided direction of the state)." --The Complete Review
"First published more than thirty years ago, but only available in English translation now, it's surprisingly (indeed, shockingly) contemporary and relevant, as the present-day Egyptian government continues to act much as its earlier incarnation does in the book. The cost, to those who are basically innocent -- generally average folk, who just want to get on with their lives -- is well-presented in Karnak Café, and though there is no radical or particularly violent reaction in the novella, it's clear that these conditions can only lead to a worse future, not a better one. A surprisingly dark book, Karnak Café is a good, quick read, combining both Mahfouz's usual presentation of the Cairo-world (though less in-depth than in most of his fiction), as well as a more bitter presentation of the conditions of the times (and misguided direction of the state)." --The Complete Review
About the Author
NAGUIB MAHFOUZ was born in 1911 in the crowded Cairo district of Gamaliya. He studied philosophy at Cairo University, then worked in various government ministries until his retirement in 1971. His first three published novels were Khufu's Wisdom (1939), Rhadopis of Nubia (1943), and Thebes at War (1944), all of which are set in ancient Egypt. These political and philosophical critiques disguised as historical romances show the unmistakable signs of a burgeoning literary genius. He went on to write more than 35 other novel-length works, plus hundreds of short stories and numerous cinema plots and scenarios, many of which have been made into successful films. Naguib Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1988. In 2006, he died at the age of 95. ROGER ALLEN is professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his translations are Naguib Mahfouz's Mirrors (AUC Press, 1999) and Bensalem Himmich's The Polymath (AUC Press, 2000).
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping, suspenseful novella about Egyptian mindset in 1960s,
By
This review is from: Karnak Café (Paperback)
Karnak Cafe by Naquib Mahfouz is a hundred page socio-political thriller. Mahfouz's characters gather together in Karnak Cafe, run by a former belly dancer. The regular customers include old men like the narrator, who remember Egypt before 1952 revolution and remember the belly dancer in her prime. The regular customers also include three university students, who are rooted in the present, without a bittersweet nostalgia for past that old people carry within them. Together the cast converses about religion, love, politics and forms the family of Karnak Cafe.
Then one day the students disappear, and when they return, their selves are transformed irreversibly. While the government throws them into prison again and again, their outside world is transformed by the 1967 war. Many years later, the narrator reconstructs the background stories of the three students, who loose their idealism, innocence and zest for life in face of harsh tortures inflicted on them. In a chilling climax, the torturer of these students joins the community of Karnak Cafe, and presents his own disillusionment with the system. The complexity of times is captured brilliantly in the narrative that follows the personal stories of the protagonists. By presenting social, political and economic tragedies through prism of personalities, Mahfouz creates a compelling and unforgettable novella. The nightmarish Karnak Cafe is a must read, contemporary novel which for me ranks along with Blindness by Saramago and Toni Morrison novels.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"What was the point of [progress] if people were so feeble that they were not worth a fly, if they had no personal rights.",
By
This review is from: Karnak Cafe (Hardcover)
(4.5 stars) In this powerful novella by Naguib Mafouz, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, a narrator stops in at the Karnak Café, an off-the-beaten-path café in Cairo run by Qurunfula, a former belly dancer, who raised her craft to the level of true art. Recognizing her immediately, he stays, seduced by the atmosphere and by the charm of a small group of regulars--three old men, three young people, and the PR director of a company--who visit the café every day and create their own urban "family."
Written in 1974 and newly translated by Roger Allen, the story takes place in the mid-1960s and focuses on the café regulars as they respond to key moments in contemporary Egyptian history. For the young people, "history began with the 1952 Revolution," in which the army, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew King Farouk, abolished the pro-British monarchy, and established a republic. The three young people and their fates become the focus of the narrator when the young people inexplicably disappear for several months, They return, changed, only to disappear again. While they are gone, Egypt is defeated in the Six Day War of 1967 with Israel. Mahfouz develops tremendous suspense about the outcomes of the regulars of the Karnak Café, at the same time that he creates an intense look at the pressures placed upon them as they try to do what they think is right. The "family" atmosphere, which is so dominant at the beginning of the story, slowly dissipates as speculation develops about the fates of the young people. Changing points of view keep the perspective on events constantly changing and the interest in the outcome high. The taboos of the society become obvious, and the young people's faith in the future of the revolution of 1952 is put to the test. Ultimately, they must consider whether "peace is more risky than war." Their individual lives cease to exist in the aftermath of their trauma, and their ability to trust is gone forever. Mafouz recreates in a mere one hundred pages an historical record of a country yearning to be free, at the same time that he depicts the movements against individual freedom which are also evolving. The young people he creates here are ordinary college students, though all of them have overcome far more than the average western college student will ever dream of. Though they insist that they still believe in the future of the revolution of 1952, their experience less than fifteen years later, shows them and the reader just how far they have left to go. Dynamic, powerful, and thought-provoking, this novella carries an impact--and modern relevance--that the reader will not soon forget. n Mary Whipple Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth A Novel The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library) Children of the Alley: A Novel Arabian Nights and Days: A Novel Miramar
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"What was the point of [progress] if people were so feeble that they were not worth a fly, if they had no personal rights.",
By
This review is from: Karnak Café (Paperback)
(4.5 stars) In this powerful novella by Naguib Mafouz, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, a narrator stops in at the Karnak Café, an off-the-beaten-path café in Cairo run by Qurunfula, a former belly dancer, who raised her craft to the level of true art. Recognizing her immediately, he stays, seduced by the atmosphere and by the charm of a small group of regulars--three old men, three young people, and the PR director of a company--who visit the café every day and create their own urban "family."
Written in 1974 and newly translated by Roger Allen, the story takes place in the mid-1960s and focuses on the café regulars as they respond to key moments in contemporary Egyptian history. For the young people, "history began with the 1952 Revolution," in which the army, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew King Farouk, abolished the pro-British monarchy, and established a republic. The three young people and their fates become the focus of the narrator when the young people inexplicably disappear for several months, They return, changed, only to disappear again. While they are gone, Egypt is defeated in the Six Day War of 1967 with Israel. Mahfouz develops tremendous suspense about the outcomes of the regulars of the Karnak Café, at the same time that he creates an intense look at the pressures placed upon them as they try to do what they think is right. The "family" atmosphere, which is so dominant at the beginning of the story, slowly dissipates as speculation develops about the fates of the young people. Changing points of view keep the perspective on events constantly changing and the interest in the outcome high. The taboos of the society become obvious, and the young people's faith in the future of the revolution of 1952 is put to the test. Ultimately, they must consider whether "peace is more risky than war." Their individual lives cease to exist in the aftermath of their trauma, and their ability to trust is gone forever. Mafouz recreates in a mere one hundred pages an historical record of a country yearning to be free, at the same time that he depicts the movements against individual freedom which are also evolving. The young people he creates here are ordinary college students, though all of them have overcome far more than the average western college student will ever dream of. Though they insist that they still believe in the future of the revolution of 1952, their experience less than fifteen years later, shows them and the reader just how far they have left to go. Dynamic, powerful, and thought-provoking, this novella carries an impact--and modern relevance--that the reader will not soon forget. n Mary Whipple Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth A Novel The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library) Children of the Alley: A Novel Cairo Modern Arabian Nights and Days: A Novel Miramar
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Khalid Safwan, Hilmi Hamada, June War, Taha al Gharib, Munir Ahmad, Muslim Brotherhood Browse Sample Pages:
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