Mohamed El-Shazly: Naguib Mahfouz is a unique case… and he has not changed yet "Nobel"

"When misfortunes multiply, they erase each other, and a crazy, strange-tasting happiness overtakes you, and you can laugh from a heart that no longer knows fear." Words on a wall in the Naguib Mahfouz Museum, and beneath them is his picture with a wide smile on the face of the late writer.

The Naguib Mahfouz Museum hosted yesterday a celebration commemorating the 113th anniversary of his birth, which included a symposium on his creativity and career, in which critics, Muhammad Al-Shazly, Ibrahim Abdel Aziz, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Shanawani, and Dr. Tamer Fayez, and it was moderated by Dr. Mustafa Al-Qazzaz.

Journalist Mohamed Al-Shazly, and former head of Al-Ahram Center for Translation and Publishing, said in special statements to “Rosa Al-Youssef” The author of Al-Harafish was an exceptional person, and he did not care about awards and honors. Rather, Naguib Mahfouz before he won the Nobel Prize was Naguib Mahfouz after he won the Nobel Prize. He did not change. He sat in the same place, spoke in the same way, very humble with everyone, difficult to anger or provoke, and easy. Very pleasing to him.

Mohamed Al-Shazly confirmed that Naguib Mahfouz is a unique case, and perhaps will not be repeated, as he is the only Arab to receive the Swedish award. In 1988, an achievement that no one has matched so far, despite the prowess of many Arab authors over the generations.

The former head of the Al-Ahram Center for Translation and Publishing pointed out that Naguib left a great mark on the Egyptian conscience, as El-Shazly wrote. His relationship with Mahfouz is in several literary manuscripts, the most recent of which is his book “Days with Naguib Mahfouz.”

On a related note, a collection of short stories was recently published by the journalist writer Mohamed El Shazly. New “Two Friends and a Dead Girl,” as part of the Literary Voices series by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces.

 The collection includes 12 stories, on more than 90 pages, “Two Friends and a Dead Girl,” and “Sami Taha.” , “Searching for Hamdi Al-Jinn,” “The Wheel,” and “Ishtiaq,” “The Greek”, “Greetings”, “Ballerina”, “Late Prayer”, “Ruins”, “All That Is There”, and “Untold Disappointments”, all within a distinct narrative narrative, as the majority relies on The stories contained in it employ the technique of recalling the characters’ past, especially at the university level, with the movement of time and the sequence of events.