Turbulent times

By Naguib Mahfouz

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Art follows life, but often at a distance. For a novelist to write, he may have to take it all in first. If I were to write about our conflict-torn region, I would have to wait until the right moment, until the dust settles, so to speak. Only then, would I put pen to paper. For the artistic experience rearticulates the event, restructures reality, not just describes it. The writer has to explore not just his or her world, but how he or she feels about it. The writer has to wait for a moment of clarity.

Occasionally, the writer may anticipate events; envision things before they take place. Take, for example, the French revolution; an event of immense proportions that may not have proceeded along a certain course had it not been preceded by a torrent of new ideas. In moments of turmoil, however, people need action more than words. And the artist may become too engrossed in action to think it through. I wrote about the 1919 revolution only years after it happened. I wrote about Al-Sadat's assassination only once I put a distance between myself and that event.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.