The Time and The Place and Other Stories

Mahfouz, Egyptian novelist and 1988 Nobel laureate, is here represented by a novel and a book of stories showing his concern with the past versus the present a la Proust. The Search tells of Saber, son of a whore in Alexandria who deserted his high-born father at the time of his birth. She tells him on her deathbed that he must try to find his father in Cairo as his sole refuge from a life of crime. In Cairo, Saber meets two women, Elham and Karima. Elham counsels patients, but he yields to the opportunism of Karima's request that he kill her landlord husband for his money. Too late, he learns that Karima has been using him and that Elham in fact represented the better side of his nature. The Time and the Place , which includes a commendable introduction by the translator, is a collection of stories published from 1962 to 1988. It details the life of Cairo residents as they try to survive poverty, brood over death, and endure outmoded tradition. In the title story, which contemplates the supernatural, the narrator offers subjective explanation for the history of a family that lived in an old house. ``The Empty Cafe'' is a superb evocation of the loneliness of old age. ``The Ditch'' details a middle-class family forced by housing shortages to move into their ancestral mausoleum. Mahfouz is a somber writer, but his subtle narrative technique and stately prose give one much to ponder.

Winner Nobel Prize for literature, 1988