"Najib Mahfuz is Egypt's best known novelist. In 1988 he became the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize, and he is now internationally famous. This book which provides a detailed analysis of Mahfuz's major works (The Cairo Trilogy, The Thief and the Dogs, Children of Gebelawi) is intended for both the specialist and the general reader."--Jacket.

Transliteration and Translation --The Novelist, His World and His Works -- The Emergence of the Modern Egyptian Novel -- Najib Mahfuz and His Cairo -- The Works of Najib Mahfuz -- Recurrent Images, Persistent Ideas -- Rational Man, Rebellious Devil -- Home and Homelessness -- Absent Father, Persevering Mother -- One Vision, Three Narrative Modes -- Mahfuz as Political Critic -- A Cunning Art -- The Courtroom of History -- What's in a Name -- Personal Names in Fiction -- A Note on Egyptian Personal Names -- Two Early Short Stories -- Khan al-Khalili -- Al-Qahira al-Jadida -- The Beginning and the End -- The Cairene Trilogy -- The Thief and the Dogs -- The Beggar -- The Masks of Reality, the Enigma of Names -- Names and Remembrance -- Mahfuz's Enigmatic Name -- Names and Language -- Mahfuz as Allegorist -- Mahfuz and the Secret of Being.