Naguib Mahfouz: A Western and Eastern Cage of Female Entrapment ...

The Qur’an requires Arab Muslims to cover their bodies respectfully, even when they choose not to wear traditional attire. In a third example, in the West, husband and wives often both work to support their households; however, in the Middle East, and more specifically with respect to Islam, men cannot ask their wives to share her wages. Her earned income is for her to use as she wishes. These types of cultural differences, which understandably cause misunderstandings between individuals of different societies, can easily complicate one’s reading of the literature of foreign countries.

This book focuses on Western feminism, Islamic feminism, and the major works of twentieth-century Egyptian fiction writer, Naguib Mahfouz. I explore his treatment of female entrapment in sexual, spiritual, domestic, and intellectual arenas. Reading his works from both a Western and Middle Eastern perspective illustrates the problem that develops when cultural differences arise from a Western reading of a Middle Eastern work of fiction. I intend to show that when reading Middle Eastern works and more specifically those by this Egyptian author, Naguib Mahfouz, the informed reader arrives prepared to witness the genius and art of Arab authors; in this case the reader witnesses this genius through Mahfouz’s brilliant use of language and metaphor. As a major writer of Egyptian culture and norms amid the British occupation and growing nationalistic fervor, Mahfouz used his art to capture the essence and drama of Cairene culture in the early twentieth century.

In “The Arab Artist’s Role in Society,” Mona Amyuni states, “[T]he artist suggests possibilities that may very well grow into actualities, as he/she shapes the sensibility of his/her age” (1). Mahfouz does this extremely well without ever asking his readers to make judgments about characters or events. Any judgments made come as a result of the reader’s cultural orientation and prejudices. Edward Said comments on a similar notion of art in The World, the Text, and the Critic: “Texts are worldly [;] to some degree they are events, and even when they appear to deny it, they are nevertheless a part of the social world, human life, and of course the historical moments in which they are located and interpreted” (1).