Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Naguib Mahfouz: New dreams

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 30 August - 5 September 2001 Issue No.549
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

New dreams

By Naguib Mahfouz

I still write every day, but only for half an hour, because my hand cannot endure the effort of writing for longer. On a new day, I don't always write something new. To me, writing is therapeutic, whether or not one is actually authoring a book. Even my physiotherapist insists that the exercise is good for my hand. So I may start putting an idea for a short story into shape, abandon it after half an hour and return to it the next day. By the time I finish the story, if I don't have a new idea, I will simply copy it out; sometimes I rewrite the same story many times just to exercise my hand, not to mention my mind.

When I rewrite a story, though, I change it only minimally -- if at all. When a work of art is complete, it often does not permit modification. But I rewrite it anyway. As to the latest episodes of Ahlam Fatrat Al-Naqaha (Dreams of the Recovery Period), I have written about as many as those that were published, and I now have more than 70 stories. The new dreams, I have noticed, are more closely tied with reality; they seem more influenced by reality. Whereas I do not remember, for example, the impetus behind the first set of dreams, the second set seems to be a direct reflection of real-life experiences, current issues and events.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.

Recommend this page

© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved

Send a letter to the Editor