Echoes of an Autobiography
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
Echoes of an Autobiography
By (Author) Naguib Mahfouz
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
1st April 1998
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
B
Winner of Nobel Prize 1988
Physical Properties
Paperback
144
Width 134mm, Height 201mm, Spine 8mm
127g
Description
From the Foreword by Nadine Gordimer- "These pieces are meditations which echo that which was, has been, and is the writer Mahfouz. They are--in the words of the title of one of the prose pieces--'The Dialogue of the Late Afternoon' of his life. I don't believe any autobiography, with its inevitable implication of self-presentation, could have matched what we have here." With more than 500,000 copies of his books in print, Naguib Mahfouz has established a following of readers for whom Echoes of an Autobiography provides a unique opportunity to catch an intimate glimpse into the life and mind of this magnificent storyteller.Here, in his first work of nonfiction ever to be published in the United States, Mahfouz considers the myriad perplexities of existence, including preoccupations with old age, death, and life's transitory nature.A surprising and delightful departure from his bestselling and much-loved fiction, this unusual and thoughtful book is breathtaking evidence of the fact that Naguib Mahfouz is not only a "storyteller of the first order" (Vanity Fair), but also a profoundthinker of the first order.
Reviews
"A haunting commonplace book of tranquil wisdom."--Kirkus Reviews
"This mosaic of autobiographical vignettes, reflections, allegories, childhood memories, dream visions, and Sufi-like spiritual maxims and paradoxes is a deep pool of wisdom that confirms his stature as a writer of universal appeal."--Publishers Weekly
Author Bio
Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo in 1911 and began writing when he was seventeen. His nearly forty novels and hundreds of short stories range from re-imaginings of ancient myths to subtle commentaries on contemporary Egyptian politics and culture. Of his many works, most famous is The Cairo Trilogy, consisting of Palace Walk (1956), Palace of Desire (1957), and Sugar Street (1957), which focuses on a Cairo family through three generations, from 1917 until 1952. In 1988, he was the first writer in Arabic to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in August 2006.
