The future of the novel

By Naguib Mahfouz

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The occasion of the second conference of Arab novelists is an appropriate time, perhaps, to revise our views of the form. Among literary genres the novel continues to occupy a leading position.

The popularity of literature in general has no doubt waned due to the increasing hegemony of visual and electronic communications, television and the Internet replacing the book to some extent. Within literature, though, the novel maintains its preeminence. And to some extent the spread of e-books, rather than endangering the novel, is helping to spread it.

The novel certainly remains more popular than poetry or drama, or even the short story. Towards the middle of the 20th century some thought the short story would take over, that it was somehow more in line with the fractured rhythms of the age. Yet the novel quickly adjusted to the new rhythms, becoming much shorter than it was in its initial heyday in the 19th century, and adopting a different dynamic.

The great number of young writers now producing novels reassures me about the future of the genre. Writers of the new generation often come to see me, or send me their work. And in much of that work I sense an accomplishment and refinement that makes me feel that the future of the genre is, after all, in good hands.

* Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.