The Harafish

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988,??Naguib Mahfouz is perhaps the best-known living??Arab writer. His books have had great success in??this country, particularly The Cairo??Trilogy. Fans of the famed trilogy will be??delighted with The Harafish, an epic??novel that chronicles the dramatic history of the??al-Nagi family -- a family that??moves, over many generations, from the height of power??and glory to the depths of decadence and decay.??The Harafish begins with the tale??of Ashur al-Nagi, a man who??grows from humble beginnings to become a great leader,??a legend among his people. Generation after??generation, however, Ashur's descendants grow further??from his legendary example. They lose touch with??their origins as they amass and then squander large??fortunes, marry prostitutes when they marry at all,??and develop rivalries that end in death. The??community's upper class keeps a watchful eye on the??descendants of al-Nagi for fear??of losing their privileges, but they find no threat??of another such as Ashur. Not, that is, until the??al-Nagi who, like his noble??ancestor, finds his power once again from among??The Harafish, or the common people.??Through the strength of their numbers and their??passion, the glory of the name of??al-Nagi is restored. "Of all??[Mahfouz's] experiments in recent decades, this??is the one which owes least to western inspiration??and is probably the most successful. The??Harafish, fluently translated by??Catherine Cobham, makes accessible and engrossing reading."??-- The Washington Post Book??World.