Analysis Of Mahfouz's Arabian Nights And Days

Mahfouz, as well as Said, shared a direct contact with the Arabian lifestyle because they grow up in that society. Mahfouz’s novel depicts the real world with the touches of the supernatural and mystic, but as a form of evil in the world not as exotic and uncivilized as the Europeans did. Mahfouz’s Arabian Nights and Days “takes new depths and insights as it picks up from where the ancient story ends” (Fayez 229). Mahfouz uses the Arabian Nights tales and Shahryar’s and Scheherazade’s society to portray the contemporary social and political issues of his people. Mahfouz aims to show various thematic concerns of the people of the East than the early versions left out. He shows ordinary people interacting with one another as in contemporary civilization.

Mahfouz’s retelling begins at the end of Scheherazade’s thousand and one night’s narration. The King, Shahryar, decides to spare Scheherazade’s life, but he feels disturbed by his previous actions. However, crime and murder reigns among the people living in Shahryar’s kingdom. Mahfouz centers his exploration on the situation of the most important characters of the previous accounts. He analyzes the dark side of identity on the corruptible nature of all humankind. Far away from Burton, Mahfouz opens his novel showing Scheherazade as a figure of significance. She is a wise woman in a city entirely dominated by men. In the first pages of the novel, the reader is able to see her sacrifice and fears. Substantially, Mahfouz gives