Naguib Mahfouz 의 세 소설

 

Midaq Alley (1947)

The Thief and The Dogs (1961)

Miramar (1967)

 

 

Like all novels worth their salt, Miramar allows us the rare

privilege of entering a national psychology, in a way that a

thousand journalistic articles or television documentaries could

not achieve; and perhaps more importantly, beyond that, we

can encounter in it a racial temperament that has been widely

misunderstood in the west. (p 420, in John Fowles'

Introduction to Miramar)

 

She smiled gently back. I was pleased to see that she liked and

trusted me. I had been kind to her and we had become friends.

(p 442, in Miramar)

 

아래는, Midaq Alley 에서, 한 부유하고 신실한 이슬람 신도가

하는 말이다. 기독교인이라면 조금 다른 뉴앙스로 얘기할 것 같다.

 

"We are all sons of Adam. If poverty descends on you then

seek help from your brother. Man's provider is God and it is to

God that any excess is due." (p 17)

 

"Never say you are bored. Boredom is disbelief in God.

Boredom is an illness that destroys faith. Does it mean

anything other than dissatisfaction with life? Life is a blessed

gift from God Almighty, so how can a believer become bored

or dissatisfied with it? (p 61)