Review
That Mahfouz exerts a benign and moderating influence on the turbulent politics of the Arabic-speaking countries is something for which one must be grateful. But is he a great artist? True, the sages of Stockholm bestowed the world's most famous prize on him, but one suspects that in the end, the absence of any Arabic literary laureates weighed most heavily on them, and that Mahfouz was selected less as the leading belle-lettrist in a worldwide competition than as the confirmed giant among Arab writers.
Mahfouz is an author perhaps better read about than read. Whether or not one already knows his work, one cannot do better than to read about him in Milson's fine appreciation. -- Commentary, Daniel Pipes
