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Respected Sir Wedding Song the Search By Mahfouz Naguib
A new volume of three novels–previously published separately by Anchor–by Naguib Mahfouz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Together with The Beggar, The Thief and The Dogs, and Autumn Quail (published by Anchor in December 2000), these novels represent a comprehensive collection of Mahfouz’s artful meditations on post-revolution Egypt. Diverse in style and narrative technique, they render a nuanced and universally resonant vision of modern life in the Middle East.
Respected Sir, “a latter-day Bleak House in Arabic” (The New York Times), revisits a familiar theme–vaulting ambition–in a powerful and religious metaphor. Wedding Song, “one of Mahfouz’s most enjoyable works” (The Chicago Tribune), is a psychological drama, focusing on how four very different kinds of minds apprehend and reckon with the realities that surround them. The Search is a powerful, lurid, and compelling story of lust, greed, and murder.
Respected Sir, “a latter-day Bleak House in Arabic” (The New York Times), revisits a familiar theme–vaulting ambition–in a powerful and religious metaphor. Wedding Song, “one of Mahfouz’s most enjoyable works” (The Chicago Tribune), is a psychological drama, focusing on how four very different kinds of minds apprehend and reckon with the realities that surround them. The Search is a powerful, lurid, and compelling story of lust, greed, and murder.
464 pages, Paperback
First published December 4, 2001
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251 people want to read
About the author
Naguib Mahfouz
461 books15.9k followersNaguib Mahfouz (Arabic author profile: نجيب محفوظ) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Many of his works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 20, 2017
A collection of three novellas from the Nobel prize winner, each of a different decade, from 1975, 1981 and 1964 respectively. Mahfouz shows his versatility in this set which is a departure from his usual style.
Respected Sir
It is a story about destiny, where despite the best laid plans or efforts, the winds of fate can blow in any direction. At the same time, it is also a story about choices, where the safe path is shunned and one becomes trapped by one’s own decisions.
The ideal citizen of other nations might be a warrior, a politician, a merchant, a craftsman, or a sailor, but in Egypt it was a government official.
This is the story of Othman Bayyumi, a civil servant. It is interesting that in Egypt, the civil service is regarded as prestigious and a highly sought after vocation. All the more interesting, was that Nagiub Mahfouz spent a large part of his career in the civil service. Othman starts as a clerk in the Archives Section, right from the bottom of the ladder. He is ambitious. From the first day he is already plotting his progression from grade eight all the way to grade one and to the coveted Director General position. …the god sitting behind the magnificent desk.” Othman is no slouch. He is clever, disciplined and willing to sacrifice. But for all his efforts, he finds his promotion hampered by nepotism. He comes to the conclusion that he must marry someone from an influential background in order to succeed. Yet his career is not without breaks. There were those who stepped aside due to ill health, allowing him to get promoted.
Othman had another life parallel to his career, and that was his romantic life. That life was filled with longing and missed opportunities. Unlike his career, he had control. He had choices, Sayyida, Asila and Onsiyya. But he chose to hold out, hoping to marry upwards.
He did find love eventually Yet she could not convince him that there was more to life than his career. In fact he was blind to all his blessings and gets caught up with the “illusion of happiness”.
He watched her with admiration and warmly endorsed what she said about the beauties of nature. But when he looked around all he saw was scenery that had never meant anything to him in the past, nor did it now. The fact was, he was always absorbed in an inner world, a world of restricted thoughts and fancies conjured up by instinct, a world in which God and God’s earthly glory, and the conflict between good and evil, predominated. These things apart, he saw nothing of life.
Ultimately, he was a self-absorbed, self-pitying, lonely man. He fell back on to religion, pursuing a false sense of holiness. He was a martyr but only in his own eyes.
Five star.
Wedding Song
Inwardly, art is a means of expurgation, outwardly a means of battle, incumbent on men born and reared in sin and determined to rebel against it.
This story was published just after his “In the Time of Love”. Both stories were set against the backdrop of the Egyptian theatre scene. This one focuses more directly on the people in the theatre industry and the drama in their lives. It is told in a series of four accounts, each from the perspective of a different character. It is kind of a whodunit style, as more and more of the truth gets revealed with each view. The four accounts have to be read in the given order though, and cannot be interchanged (that kind of structure would have been truly brilliant). The denouement is nothing spectacular but the beauty is in the telling of the story. There is a constant interplay between art and life. Each story is different, depending on which character is telling it. Mahfouz’s staple themes of illusions and delusions are present.
Characters
Four star.
The Search
This is the weakest of the three novels. It begins intriguingly enough. Saber, a criminal, sets off in search of his father after his mother, also an ex-convict, dies. What began as a honest quest, ends up in disarray as he gets sidetracked by his sexual urges. So things go downhill from there and the story becomes a thriller. While the writing is good, the ending was somewhat underwhelming.
Three Star.
Respected Sir
It is a story about destiny, where despite the best laid plans or efforts, the winds of fate can blow in any direction. At the same time, it is also a story about choices, where the safe path is shunned and one becomes trapped by one’s own decisions.
The ideal citizen of other nations might be a warrior, a politician, a merchant, a craftsman, or a sailor, but in Egypt it was a government official.
This is the story of Othman Bayyumi, a civil servant. It is interesting that in Egypt, the civil service is regarded as prestigious and a highly sought after vocation. All the more interesting, was that Nagiub Mahfouz spent a large part of his career in the civil service. Othman starts as a clerk in the Archives Section, right from the bottom of the ladder. He is ambitious. From the first day he is already plotting his progression from grade eight all the way to grade one and to the coveted Director General position. …the god sitting behind the magnificent desk.” Othman is no slouch. He is clever, disciplined and willing to sacrifice. But for all his efforts, he finds his promotion hampered by nepotism. He comes to the conclusion that he must marry someone from an influential background in order to succeed. Yet his career is not without breaks. There were those who stepped aside due to ill health, allowing him to get promoted.
Othman had another life parallel to his career, and that was his romantic life. That life was filled with longing and missed opportunities. Unlike his career, he had control. He had choices, Sayyida, Asila and Onsiyya. But he chose to hold out, hoping to marry upwards.
He did find love eventually Yet she could not convince him that there was more to life than his career. In fact he was blind to all his blessings and gets caught up with the “illusion of happiness”.
He watched her with admiration and warmly endorsed what she said about the beauties of nature. But when he looked around all he saw was scenery that had never meant anything to him in the past, nor did it now. The fact was, he was always absorbed in an inner world, a world of restricted thoughts and fancies conjured up by instinct, a world in which God and God’s earthly glory, and the conflict between good and evil, predominated. These things apart, he saw nothing of life.
Ultimately, he was a self-absorbed, self-pitying, lonely man. He fell back on to religion, pursuing a false sense of holiness. He was a martyr but only in his own eyes.
Five star.
Wedding Song
Inwardly, art is a means of expurgation, outwardly a means of battle, incumbent on men born and reared in sin and determined to rebel against it.
This story was published just after his “In the Time of Love”. Both stories were set against the backdrop of the Egyptian theatre scene. This one focuses more directly on the people in the theatre industry and the drama in their lives. It is told in a series of four accounts, each from the perspective of a different character. It is kind of a whodunit style, as more and more of the truth gets revealed with each view. The four accounts have to be read in the given order though, and cannot be interchanged (that kind of structure would have been truly brilliant). The denouement is nothing spectacular but the beauty is in the telling of the story. There is a constant interplay between art and life. Each story is different, depending on which character is telling it. Mahfouz’s staple themes of illusions and delusions are present.
Characters
Four star.
The Search
This is the weakest of the three novels. It begins intriguingly enough. Saber, a criminal, sets off in search of his father after his mother, also an ex-convict, dies. What began as a honest quest, ends up in disarray as he gets sidetracked by his sexual urges. So things go downhill from there and the story becomes a thriller. While the writing is good, the ending was somewhat underwhelming.
Three Star.
July 19, 2016
This book is three of Naguib Mahfouz's short novellas in one book. I bought this years and years ago after reading The Carpet Wars: From Kabul to Baghdad: A Ten-Year Journey Along Ancient Trade Routes and took myself off to The Asia Bookroom here in Canberra to edumacate myself some more. I bought this and Geisha of Gion: The True Story of Japan's Foremost Geisha. This was the first one of them I ever opened.
Why did I buy them? No idea. I think the declaration of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature impressed me somewhat. And it has enough still to ensure I got another one of his books ready to read in case it was just this book. Because once again we have an author who has just written about mainly unlikeable characters that I can't give two shits about.
Respected Sir is about a guy who wants to be the best public servant he can be and gives up everything else in his life in order to be the best bureaucrat possible. Including being an interesting or personable person. Worked with too many public servants like that already thanks.
Wedding Song was the one I enjoyed the most I must say. It's the story of relationships between a theatre company and their employees. But it's told three times from different people's point of view. Interesting and different form of writing and story telling. Again, help if I cared for any of them.
The Search is about a man who goes to Cairo trying to track down his supposedly rich Dad who his Mum left while she was pregnant. As she's now dead, he just got out of prison and needs money or a stupid parent to support him. In the end he letshis penis himself to be manipulated by a beautiful woman.
Looking at them as a writing exercise made it more interesting. I can see why he won a Noble Prize. his writing is spectacular. I just think he needs to get better people to tell us about. I will be less forgiving with his next book.
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
Why did I buy them? No idea. I think the declaration of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature impressed me somewhat. And it has enough still to ensure I got another one of his books ready to read in case it was just this book. Because once again we have an author who has just written about mainly unlikeable characters that I can't give two shits about.
Respected Sir is about a guy who wants to be the best public servant he can be and gives up everything else in his life in order to be the best bureaucrat possible. Including being an interesting or personable person. Worked with too many public servants like that already thanks.
Wedding Song was the one I enjoyed the most I must say. It's the story of relationships between a theatre company and their employees. But it's told three times from different people's point of view. Interesting and different form of writing and story telling. Again, help if I cared for any of them.
The Search is about a man who goes to Cairo trying to track down his supposedly rich Dad who his Mum left while she was pregnant. As she's now dead, he just got out of prison and needs money or a stupid parent to support him. In the end he lets
Looking at them as a writing exercise made it more interesting. I can see why he won a Noble Prize. his writing is spectacular. I just think he needs to get better people to tell us about. I will be less forgiving with his next book.
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
November 7, 2022
(Each novel reviewed separately here on GR) "Respected Sir", 3 stars. "Wedding Song", 4 stars. "The Search", 3 stars. But I'm giving this collection 4 stars overall as the author presents to us three genres: a simple drama with a single character, a very original art-imitates-life oddly humorous mystery (who really did what?), and a Western-style noir, respectively. How many authors can do this, and do it well? Now, on to "Cairo Trilogy."
February 20, 2019
I read Respected Sir about 15 years ago, but could not remember if I read the other two stories in the book. I decided to give The Search a try and see if it jogged my memory. After finishing it, I was no closer to the answer. There were elements that seemed very familiar, but that may have been due to the similarity to his other work, The Thief and the Dogs, or it could have been because this is such a quintessential Mahfouz work that it resembles others. Whatever the case this was a good read. We follow a young man who has been sent on a quest to find his father and becomes increasingly desperate as his search bears no fruit. In the end, he makes rash decisions in an effort to find an easy way out of his predicament. This book is both a dissection of life choices and where they lead him, and an examination of the flaws of a man with too much pride, too little discipline, and an utter lack of morals. Mahfouz does a great job of capturing the desperate mindset that can envelope those in poverty and it makes the main character more engaging and sympathetic, than the selfish rich kid turned poor that he could easily be. All in all, a good book that has subtle complexity while being accessible. I recommend it to everyone, including those who may be giving Mahfouz a try for the first time.
October 31, 2015
Membandingkan The Children of Alley dan buku ini, aku kira, buku ini agak terkebelakang dari segi penceritaan dan gubahan emosinya. Ia masih baik, ya, tiada siapa sangkal tentang itu, tetapi ia masih belum memuaskan, sekurang-kurangnya untuk selera pembacaan aku.
Ada tiga cerita di dalam buku ini; kegemaranku ialah Respected Sir, tentang seorang lelaki yang terlalu mengejar kerjaya, dilapisi dengan allegori-allegori agama yang menarik dan memikat. Wedding Song okey-okey sajalah. Ia buat aku teringat kepada filem Vantage Point. Selain itu, meh. The Search pun okey-okey, cuma aku harapkan ia boleh jadi lagi baik. Penutupnya langsung tidak memuaskan.
Jadi, aku nak cari Cairo Trilogy selepas ini. Kalau ada siapa-siapa nak sedekahkan, PM aku.
Ada tiga cerita di dalam buku ini; kegemaranku ialah Respected Sir, tentang seorang lelaki yang terlalu mengejar kerjaya, dilapisi dengan allegori-allegori agama yang menarik dan memikat. Wedding Song okey-okey sajalah. Ia buat aku teringat kepada filem Vantage Point. Selain itu, meh. The Search pun okey-okey, cuma aku harapkan ia boleh jadi lagi baik. Penutupnya langsung tidak memuaskan.
Jadi, aku nak cari Cairo Trilogy selepas ini. Kalau ada siapa-siapa nak sedekahkan, PM aku.
April 16, 2009
reading naguib mahfouz is a little bit like listening to a wise old man tell stories but without the awkwardness of having to nod and smile.
December 30, 2024
The Wedding Song - a short novel set around the same events, with each character inferring the truth and intent against the background of a play which happens to be based on their lives. Short and to the point, an easy read and well worth the minimal effort.
January 16, 2014
Respected Sir is a poignant account of a man's rise from a background of poverty through the civil service and the personal sacrifices he makes along the way as he navigates the low level politics of the bureaucracy. Reminded me a lot of John Williams' Stoner which I have just finished - a simple portrait of the life of a simple man, though the language is more emotional and descriptive than Williams' and the story moves along at a quicker pace. Finished in one evening.
December 13, 2009
This was excellent. Mahfouz has a wonderful way of starting the story in the middle of the action and then letting the background come to light in short flashbacks. I can see why he won the Nobel Prize. These particular stories are all very good. Each one is very unique and quick to read.
Want to read
January 13, 2009Thank you Lindsey for your recommendation of "Pulitzer-prize worthy" authors!!
May 27, 2010
Love the way this man writes! But didn't love this as much as I loved the Cairo Trilogy...still though...an interesting perspective on Egyptian life in the years following the end of British rule...
Read
August 7, 2011Just finished reading 'The Search'. Found it depressing, but the story was told in a sparce, to the point voice, which made making an emotional attachment to Saber difficult, but also possible.
Read
January 15, 2012Respected sir is my favorite Mahfouz novel. I read and re-read it years ago. From this volume, I read only The Search.
June 10, 2012
A sad-funny story of the ultimate Egyptian bureaucrat, who gives up life for promotions in the name of Allah. Left me wanting to read Midaq Alley.
July 6, 2012
I didn't read this whole book, but the edition of The Search that I read isn't on GoodReads. Very good author. Great storyteller. Will make anyone want to go to Cairo.
August 15, 2013
Rating is based all 3 stories added up together. Respected Sir=3, Wedding Song=2, The Search=4 Total=9/3=3
August 20, 2007
Simply written, tapi deeeeep.... cocok buat yang doyan novel2 spiritual
Read
August 28, 2018Using the "same story from different perspectives" approach, we find out about a family in Cario.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews