Morning and Evening Talk: A Modern Arabic Novel
By Naguib Mahfouz
Translated by Christina Phillips
American University in Cairo Press $19.95, 192 pages

If the universal is the local without walls, the late writer Naguib Mahfouz was its master. Though most of his work was set in his native Cairo, each of his neighbourhoods was distinct from all others. His characters defied generalisation, even as they reflected the customs, conditions and political upheavals of the day. The same might be said of the author. When he won the Nobel prize in 1988, Mahfouz was praised for creating “an Arabian narrative art” that applied “to all mankind”. Because he was the first winner from the Arab world, the emphasis was on his nationality. But what really set him apart was his narrative artistry.