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Celebration of Arab literature

(second draft)

"Nobel wins the Naguib Mahfouz prize" (nordlings ). This amusing headline appeared in al-

ahram, the Egyptian state newspaper when it was first announced that the most famous Arab

literary writer Naguib Mahfouz was to receive the great Nobel Prize in literature in the year 1988

(nordlings ). It was indeed a celebration of Arab literature being the first Arabic writer to receive

this prize. Shortly before he won the Nobel Prize, he told an interviewer, "If the urge to write

would ever leave me, I want this day to be my last' (nordlings ). I 'm not sure whether his last day

was the day the urge and passion to write left him or not but I'm sure that his dedication to write

can never be lost. Fortunately he has lived to witness the day when his literature was appreciated

on an international level, the day he received the Nobel. The lecture written by this great

legendary novelist and literary writer of my own country, Egypt, upon receiving his prize would

definetly appeal to any readers pathos and ethos and would itself be able to convince anyone

even a person not aware of his great work- that Mahfouz really deserves to merit the appreciation

and receive the Nobel.

The background of this great literary Egyptian, Moslem, Arab writer Naguib Mahfouz was

very well reflected in his Nobel lecture. In An attempt to introduce himself he basically refered

to himself as "the son of two civilizations": The Pharonic and the Islamic (Mahfouz ). Although

not very known amongst the audience he is addressing but the description he used was enough to

tell the story and background of this great writer as a historically informed writer who was proud

of his country and its great civilization which mostly appealed to his Values and ethos.

Considering that both civilizations are very well known,.he just referred to them both by two

stories that although short are amazingly descriptive of those great civilizations that just summed

up the bases upon which such great very old civilizations were founded. This indeed shows the

pride he takes in both civilizations forming very strong grounds for credibility. As well as the

use of the word objective , when telling the audience to permit him to present himself in an

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objective manner,played a very important role and is the key that ,for sure, gained him the

audiences trust (Mahfouz ).

The appeal that was used in the story telling of the civilizations was more of the

appeal to ethics as well as pathos. The pharonic "historical incident" shows the firm justice

system upon which the great Pharonic civilization had been established and that six thousand

years ago truth and justice were the key to such tremendous civilization. This story shows how

people 6 thousand years ago had values and ethics that were cherished and have lead them to be

one of the most powerful empire of their time. This alone shows the greatness of the civilization

putting aside their building of the pyramids or the Karnak. It as well leads us to some of

Mahfouzs values and ethical beliefs which are Truth and justice stating that they are to

remain for as long as mankind has a ruminative mind and a living conscience (Mahfouz ).

Moreover, his story for the Islamic civilization is as well a "testimony of value of the human

spirit in its demand for knowledge" (Mahfouz ).It emphasized that Islam: in its essence: generous,

all embracing and humane.

Moreover , aside to Mahfouzs belives in truth and justice that was revealed through the

lecture , it as well made clear his love for the arabic language and its literature. As originally the

Arabic word for literature, adab, originally refers to a high level of culture, good behavior and

exalted manners. This was best illustrated in his lecture such as when using the words Permit

me in the second paragraph and tolerance in the first paragraph.In addition to his dependence

on the poetic, imagery style and the use of Snymons which again reflects the effect Arabic

language has on his writing. Also, mentioning in his Nobel lecture that the Arabic language is

the" real winner of the prize" is again a very powerful indication of his passion for Arabic

(Mahfouz ). The word combination created ,after translating this lecture that was primarily written

in Arabic to English ,is just so beautiful that as you read you feel as if words have melodies your

ears enjoy,it is more like magical writing. What he writes about is so accessible, so human, that it

both literally and figuratively translates around the world in a way some other novelist's works do

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not (luxner ).This lecture- even for a person who unfortunately never had the chance to read any of

his marvelous work-immediately made me simply just admire Naguib Mahfouz.

As he refers to himself as a man coming from the third world, the issues that he brought up

and focused on through out the whole lecture were all issues concerning the third world citizens.

This gives us an idea to Mahfouzs other concerns and values.He mentioned issues such as the

famine in Africa, the deprivation of all human rights in South Africa but has dealt in depth with

the Palestinian Israeli war and their strive to obtain their rights and save their land from

destruction. His aim was to persuade the leaders of the developed countries, those having power

and "superiority", to save the third world from famine, the bullets and torture, from the debts as

not having to follow the rigid laws of the economy.

As an attempt to convince the big leaders of the world and be able to achieve his aim, he

made a strong start with the paragraph that starts with In the decisive moment... His thrive to

call for action was initialized by appealing to ethics when mentioning that we as humans should

clean humanity of moral pollution (Mahfouz ). Moreover, he forces the idea that the "developed

world and the third world are but one family" and he drew their attention towards their

responsibility to mankind (Mahfouz ). As today, the greatness of a civilized leader is ought to be

measured by his sense of responsibility towards all mankind (Mahfouz ). He also added that in the

name of the third world when addressing the big leaders of the world: Be not spectators of our

miseries (Mahfouz ). you have to play a role befitting your status (Mahfouz ). This statement

would definitely move some leaders if not all of the them as they would realize that their status

and superiority makes them responsible for the whole globe and not just for their nations. .

Many appeals were used by Mahfouz in his lecture as to effectively serve his argument .

The use of statistics when claiming that 150 million Arabs surrounding the Palestinians following

what is happening, in their land, in anger and grief(Mahfouz ). This appeal to logic emphasizes the

huge number of Arabs that are frustrated but have no power to do anything and help their fellow

citizens of the Arab nation. This fact in particular, although not logically supported, appealed to

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my pathos greatly as it made me feel young and weak not being able to help. Also the appeal to

emotions was used again when picturing the disasters occurring in the west bank and Gaza which

would make the reader of the lecture sympathize with the Palestinians and their weak position.

His opinion that the whole world are but one family" give a sense of fairness and equality that

appeals to ethics and values (Mahfouz ). The combination of the three methods of appeal that he

used made his argument even more convincing and strong but yet not very appealing perhaps

Neither to the Europeans nor the Americans.

Mahfouz's argument and the different appeals that were used in it would definitely appeal

more to the third world citizens and to the Arabs in specific. This fatal drawback would, without

a doubt, lessen the strength of the argument he made as he gave terrorism additional justification.

Of course as he is addressing an international audience he should not have taken a side in his

argument as it seemed that he sided the so called barbarians in their point of view .This of course

would not appeal to any of the Americans nor the Israelis not even the Europeans , maybe forcing

the big leaders to think twice before taking real action towards helping the third world citizens

and especially solving the Palestinian war.

In conclusion, After reading and analyzing Naguib Mahfouz'z lecture, I personally have no

doubt that ,sometime in the future, I will read his Marvelous books and I would probably start

with his famous "Cairo trilogy". As for one who never read anything to Naguib Mahfouz and was

not really aware of his greatness in writing , I now appreciate him not just because he is a Nobel

prize winner but also because of his recognizable devotion for writing. His enthralling writing is

full of tremendous humanity and warmth that mostly appealed to my emotions. He first

established credibility and used a unique writing style in the lecture that immediately created a

very good first impression of the lecture .In the lecture, Mahfouz was able to balance yet

effectively use the different appeals appealing mostly, in my opinion, to pathos. Furthermore, he

forces a belief in his conclusion that "good is achieving victory everyday" .He appeals to logos by

giving examples to prove his point .He pointed out that if victory was not on the good side, then

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nations wouldn't have been able to be formed and that humans wouldn't have been able to excel

in creativeness and invention, to conquer outer space,and to declare human rights (Mahfouz ).

Mahfouz forces his ethical believes in the power of goodness and equality through out the world

as it would serve humanity as a whole and not just the Arab nation .This feature makes the

lecture accessible to literates and illiterates, Arabs and international people, middle class and

upper class citizens of the world. Making him a writer of the world (nordlings ).

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works cited page

Mahfouz, Naguib. "Nobel lecture." (1993) 29 oct 2007

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Nordlings, jay. National review 25 sep 2006 2 nov 2007 .

luxner, larry. "A nobel for the arab nation." aramco world magazine mar-apr 1989 2 nov 2007

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