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Time and the Place
Book by NAJIB MAHFUZ
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
October 29, 2012
Short stories, some very short. They are strange -- he reminds me of Kafka, Camus, and the editor says Proust. Not sure how students will like them, but they are short. They aren't exactly memorable individually, but they add up to a pretty interesting world view.
November 25, 2025
Quite an enjoyable collection of short stories. Some of them had a really strange and dreamlike quality, which I’m always fond of - Where as others were quite straight forward depictions of Cairos city dwellers of all classes. I like the range of people and circumstances depicted. I will definitely pick up one of his novels one of these days.
October 7, 2017
A group of people, sheltering from the rain in a bus stop, are witness to a baffling series of scenes—the near-lynching of a thief, a horrific car accident, a couple making love in public atop a corpse—and cannot tell if what they are watching is real, or the shooting of a film. A man comes home to a house that he realizes is like his but isn’t and a woman who resembles his wife but is not. A man dreams of himself, in a medieval avatar, burying a mysterious box in the place that is now his home—and on a whim, digs up the place to find the box.
A young woman meets again the man who sexually abused her as a child. A man, his marriage fallen apart, goes wandering about the town, remembering the past. A little boy, sent out by his mother on an errand, abandons it after several attempts and goes off to enjoy himself…
Naguib Mahfouz’s stories in The Time and The Place and Other Stories are a varied collection. Many of them have a certain whimsicality to them, a theme that, while set firmly in 20th century Cairo (mostly), could well be straight from The Arabian Nights. Ends are invariably left hanging, for the reader to interpret (along with the rest of the story) as he or she pleases. Themes such as love (requited and not, platonic and savage, youthful and mature), lust, ambition, greed, ennui and fear play out in story after story.
What impressed me the most about these stories was the obvious evidence of a master storyteller at work: at no point did I feel bored, not once did my interest flag. Yes, there were some stories that left me wondering, “But what happened after that?”, but this was usually followed by the realization that Mahfouz was using metaphors and symbols to say something beyond the vivid tale in itself. Commenting, perhaps, on the stupidity of humans, our inability to look beyond our own petty interests, our desire for what lies beyond our reach.
That said, the stories that I especially liked in this collection were A Day for Saying Goodbye, By a Person Unknown, The Norwegian Rat and A Long-Term Plan. All the stories are good, but these ones in particular stayed with me for different reasons, ranging all the way from poignancy to humour, but all of them, in some way or the other, letting me relate to them.
A young woman meets again the man who sexually abused her as a child. A man, his marriage fallen apart, goes wandering about the town, remembering the past. A little boy, sent out by his mother on an errand, abandons it after several attempts and goes off to enjoy himself…
Naguib Mahfouz’s stories in The Time and The Place and Other Stories are a varied collection. Many of them have a certain whimsicality to them, a theme that, while set firmly in 20th century Cairo (mostly), could well be straight from The Arabian Nights. Ends are invariably left hanging, for the reader to interpret (along with the rest of the story) as he or she pleases. Themes such as love (requited and not, platonic and savage, youthful and mature), lust, ambition, greed, ennui and fear play out in story after story.
What impressed me the most about these stories was the obvious evidence of a master storyteller at work: at no point did I feel bored, not once did my interest flag. Yes, there were some stories that left me wondering, “But what happened after that?”, but this was usually followed by the realization that Mahfouz was using metaphors and symbols to say something beyond the vivid tale in itself. Commenting, perhaps, on the stupidity of humans, our inability to look beyond our own petty interests, our desire for what lies beyond our reach.
That said, the stories that I especially liked in this collection were A Day for Saying Goodbye, By a Person Unknown, The Norwegian Rat and A Long-Term Plan. All the stories are good, but these ones in particular stayed with me for different reasons, ranging all the way from poignancy to humour, but all of them, in some way or the other, letting me relate to them.
May 14, 2010
Learning about Egyptian culture through these short stories, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies is to have a sample of different strata of Cairene life. Perhaps my favorite was the story, rather, more parable than story, called "The Wasteland" in which a man is forced to give up his wife to follow a leader; his plans for revenge are thwarted -- "why is it that all beings disappear and nothing is left but dust?" It makes you think about the expression, "another time". But time does not come again. Which road do you pick, after facing degradation? The one where you will not be seen, through the Wasteland.
September 17, 2014
Read "The Answer Is No" in the textbook for my Literary Heritage class. Loved that the main character stood her ground even though she was still affected after being sexually assaulted at 14. Wish I could find out what happened next but alas the abrupt ending was part of the reason this short story was good.
November 25, 2015
One of my students at IUP recommended Mahfouz to me. I have wanted to read him since he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 1980's.
This collection of short stories are excellent. Some have an otherworldly quality to them. When I have a little more time next month, I will read his Cairo Trilogy.
This collection of short stories are excellent. Some have an otherworldly quality to them. When I have a little more time next month, I will read his Cairo Trilogy.
June 17, 2019
Interesting to read a different style of Mahfouz book, for perspective, but I wouldn't rate it as one of his best. Many of the stories seem to abruptly finish, which I'm sure there is a reason for, but I couldn't understand it.
August 30, 2014
Mahfouz has otherwise been consistently good, not sure why this collection of short stories didn't work for me. Read about half of them.
December 5, 2017
"Necessity has its own rules."
March 23, 2026
It may seem a bit unfair to review The Time and the Place, since it is an international curated volume of short stories from Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, and thus does not reflect the author’s personal organization. In addition, these works have been translated into English, and thus some of the nuance and culture of the Arabic original is invariably lost, regardless of the quality. This, however, is the primary importance of this collection, as it contains translations of stories that might otherwise be ignored in favor of the author’s more well-known works. Thus, this review is not of the individual stories, which would require a more in-depth literary analysis and possibly a review of the Arabic originals, but instead of how they have been presented here.
In that regard, the introduction is the most important element, since it provides the context for all of the tales and why they were selected. It is typical of a volume produced in the early 1990s, but could have been expanded to provide more information, as it is only five soft cover pages. Most of this is a biography that covers the important turning points of his life, with some examples of the stories that came from this period sprinkled in. Since the original publication dates are only noted in small print in the front matter, however, one finds themselves constantly turning back to this introduction to see where the stories fit in to the author’s chronology.
Additionally, the organization of the introduction means that the examples that the editor raises are not presented in the same order as they are in the volume, and thus reviewing this text requires the reader to go back and scan the entire introduction until they locate the commentary on the story that they reading. Moreover, this commentary is sparse as a whole and generally only raises one tidbit about the story, which may not align with the reader’s interest in a particular tale, and thus may not aid the reader at all. More importantly, mention of some of the contents is absent entirely, forcing the reader to interpret them without sufficient context.
As for the stories themselves, many are enjoyable, although even as a historian of Egypt, some of the cultural context was lost on me. As such, a more casual reader would have to accept this volume as a “slice of life” presented in high literary fashion. Decoding meaning, and determining what the stories can tell someone about Egyptian life in that period, is certainly possible, but the sparse notes in the introduction will likely make such a process incomplete. This means that a reader might find some of the lighter tales more enjoyable, as they often touch upon concerns that transcend particular cultures. Some of the heavier, more Egypt-specific stories, however, will likely be difficult. The opening selection, “Zaabalawi” is good example: the quest-like structure and the religious undertones may seem familiar to most readers, but the specific context of Sufism, mentioned briefly in the introduction, will escape anyone not already familiar with that term.
Overall, The Time and the Place is valuable as a work that makes some of Mahfouz’s lesser-known writings more widely available. As noted in the introduction, only four of the 20 stories had previously been published in English. Unfortunately, a much more detailed and developed introduction, or contextual notes before each selection, would have been required to make this collection truly valuable. As such, this book would be of little interest to the casual reader and is more suited for readers already familiar with the cultural context. Given that most people in that category would likely be those able to read the works in Arabic, however, the audience for these translations is probably limited. It is best suited for someone with an academic interest in Egypt, but lacking the Arabic proficiency to engage literary material. Additionally, as this publication is over 35 years old now, I suspect that many of these stories have been republished in other collections, potentially with more context provided. Therefore, this volume may have been valuable at the time, but is now likely just a stepping stone to better works.
In that regard, the introduction is the most important element, since it provides the context for all of the tales and why they were selected. It is typical of a volume produced in the early 1990s, but could have been expanded to provide more information, as it is only five soft cover pages. Most of this is a biography that covers the important turning points of his life, with some examples of the stories that came from this period sprinkled in. Since the original publication dates are only noted in small print in the front matter, however, one finds themselves constantly turning back to this introduction to see where the stories fit in to the author’s chronology.
Additionally, the organization of the introduction means that the examples that the editor raises are not presented in the same order as they are in the volume, and thus reviewing this text requires the reader to go back and scan the entire introduction until they locate the commentary on the story that they reading. Moreover, this commentary is sparse as a whole and generally only raises one tidbit about the story, which may not align with the reader’s interest in a particular tale, and thus may not aid the reader at all. More importantly, mention of some of the contents is absent entirely, forcing the reader to interpret them without sufficient context.
As for the stories themselves, many are enjoyable, although even as a historian of Egypt, some of the cultural context was lost on me. As such, a more casual reader would have to accept this volume as a “slice of life” presented in high literary fashion. Decoding meaning, and determining what the stories can tell someone about Egyptian life in that period, is certainly possible, but the sparse notes in the introduction will likely make such a process incomplete. This means that a reader might find some of the lighter tales more enjoyable, as they often touch upon concerns that transcend particular cultures. Some of the heavier, more Egypt-specific stories, however, will likely be difficult. The opening selection, “Zaabalawi” is good example: the quest-like structure and the religious undertones may seem familiar to most readers, but the specific context of Sufism, mentioned briefly in the introduction, will escape anyone not already familiar with that term.
Overall, The Time and the Place is valuable as a work that makes some of Mahfouz’s lesser-known writings more widely available. As noted in the introduction, only four of the 20 stories had previously been published in English. Unfortunately, a much more detailed and developed introduction, or contextual notes before each selection, would have been required to make this collection truly valuable. As such, this book would be of little interest to the casual reader and is more suited for readers already familiar with the cultural context. Given that most people in that category would likely be those able to read the works in Arabic, however, the audience for these translations is probably limited. It is best suited for someone with an academic interest in Egypt, but lacking the Arabic proficiency to engage literary material. Additionally, as this publication is over 35 years old now, I suspect that many of these stories have been republished in other collections, potentially with more context provided. Therefore, this volume may have been valuable at the time, but is now likely just a stepping stone to better works.
June 15, 2018
I wanted to read this collection of 20-30 years of stories because I'd only ever read "Zabalawi" by Mahfouz, and without context, I found that story kind of unresolved. I think in the process I learned that Zabalawi's mystifications are the context for themselves and much of this book, and that probably short stories are not Mahfouz's prime vehicle; if I had a year, I'd read the Cairo Trilogy and probably know what I wanted to know. But instead, I read a collection with a lot of parables, mostly about the relationship between modernity and faith, a lot of them interested rather grandly in Egypt's future and it's relationship to Islam, all interesting subjects but maybe not foremost literary subjects. Really, there are a lot of gauzy parables here about unnamed people facing faceless judges, etc, but without the reality of Kafka's judges and it's a little tiresome. Very few stories have fully developed plots or characters-- there's a longish one about a small "family" living at the edges of Cairo during the peak years of WW2 that is memorable, but then the story is almost all driven by outside actors. There are a couples sharp satires which were enjoyable. There are some interesting elements here, but this probably shouldn't be read as a collection?
November 22, 2021
I hadn’t read any Mahfouz before and was daunted by the idea of plunging straight into the one thousand or so pages of the Cairo trilogy so I thought I would ease myself into his work with this slender collection of short, short stories. All but one of the stories are set in Cairo and mostly in a one-square mile section of the old city. But if the world of these stories is limited in space it’s certainly adventurous in time – characters can live an entire lifetime in half a day or go backwards and forwards hundreds of years in a matter of minutes. Some are painfully aware that they have lived too long or don’t have long to live. Others are blissfully unaware that the reader is sharing their last moments. The best stories have a mysterious dream-like quality without quite losing their grip on reality, and develop into subtle allegories of death or political tyranny. Unfortunately, however, about half of the stories in the colection are either very slight or very heavy-handed in their allegorical intentions. A few of them came across as second rate Kafka, Ionesco and Bunuel. But the good stories are very good indeed and now I’m looking forward to tackling some of the author’s major works.
January 28, 2024
The Time and the Place and Other Stories collects translations of twenty of Mahfouz' short stories from the years between 1962 and 1989. For the most part, these are not great considered as stories, with many having no real plot, but the writing is so incredible it doesn't matter. To give an example, my favorite story of the collection, "The Ditch", is a description of the life of an old man who has never married or had a family and just lives a boring life; nothing actually happens in the "story" — but the language, and the subtle personification of the man's house, are incredible. Many of the stories which do have a plot are so surreal that the reader doesn't have any idea what is going on or what will happen after the abrupt and ambiguous ending. These are stories which will not appeal to those who read for "the story" but those who read for language and style will find them among Mahfouz' best writing. The translator, Denys Johnson-Davies, also deserves credit, because this is the kind of book that could have been ruined by a poor translation.
June 15, 2024
This book packs a lot of short stories into a short book. I liked the chance to see what life was like in 20th century Cairo, and how similar and how very different it was from modern-day America. Although wonderfully written, this book is a mixed bag. The best of the stories are tightly woven and suspenseful and pack a punch in just a few pages; some of them are dreamlike and Kafkaesque; a few are pretty lame. In this case the book's brevity was an advantage. It politely ended just as I got tired of reading it.
October 15, 2024
Came to this collection through "The Conjurer Made Off with the Dish," which was featured in an anthology called The Art of the Tale; though many stories are powerful in their own right ("The Ditch" "The Man and the Other Man," "A Fugitive from Justice," the title story) the structural similarities between stories became increasingly apparent over the course of the twenty-story collection; as a repertory of Mahfouz's work, it's quite astounding but as a single reading experience it can get a little tiresome
October 12, 2025
4/5.
For anyone who wants a slow digestible read.
The collection shows Egypt as an atlas of human longing, where sacredness, sordidness, and grief coexist without apology, while holding on to the ache, faith and the slow, unending elegy of being alive.
The stories that stood out for me are the ones that touched upon "what does mean to be alive?", themes involving grief in various forms, and the occasional absurdist fiction that toed the line of ambiguous reality and philosophical allegories.
For anyone who wants a slow digestible read.
The collection shows Egypt as an atlas of human longing, where sacredness, sordidness, and grief coexist without apology, while holding on to the ache, faith and the slow, unending elegy of being alive.
The stories that stood out for me are the ones that touched upon "what does mean to be alive?", themes involving grief in various forms, and the occasional absurdist fiction that toed the line of ambiguous reality and philosophical allegories.
February 28, 2017
Amazing. These short stories are utterly un-western. They take place in Egypt, and the perpectives on narrative are very different. Emphasis can often be on the context, the continuity of life, themes of man's place in the universe, etc, all of this above the actual narrative. A story about a crime investigation focuses more on the investigator's life and thoughts than the actual crime. Disorienting. Read this.
July 19, 2023
this is a really, odd book of short stories. it’s never overt in any theme so you’ve really got to scry to get past messages that may come with a region’s themes rather than with an author’s. i’m conflicted to give this a higher score because the translation likely doesn’t do favors for mahfouz and his writing, but i certainly won’t rate it lower because the ideas within these stories feel fresh despite being both so simple and old.
February 23, 2020
A compilation of short stories...this book is a decent read. The stories are deep, intriguing and some are perhaps abstract. Nicely written, each story depicts a deeper thought and meaning of the human journey. The answer is no, Half a day, A day for saying goodbye, The Wasteland and A long term plan are must read stories.
April 18, 2021
90. sayfadaki Veda öyküsü, aşkın başlangıç ve bitişini, huzur olmayan evde yetişen çocukların durumun vahametini kavrayışı ile Cemal’in “ne sizin içinizi ne de kendi içimizi rahat ettiremeyiz” ifadesi. Yüreğe dokunan bir öykü. Kahire Üçleme’si Necib Mahfuz’un başyapıtı. Öykülerdeki kısa soluklu anlatımı sevemedim.
September 22, 2019
Easy to read, all good. Many are surrealistic and disturbing ("The Conjurer"), some are charming ("Half a Day"), some Kafkaesque ("The Man and The Other Man") and some - maybe all - show the strain of living under Egypt's dictatorship ("At The Bus Stop")
June 23, 2020
It's a beautifully written book no doubt and Mahfouz is truly a gem of an author... But this one was too Kafkaesque for my liking... Going to read more of his books to go through the style of his writing in depth!
August 18, 2017
My two favorite stories were "The Norwegian Rat" and "At the bus stop."
January 7, 2019
These are some of my favorite shorts stories by such an amazing author!
September 12, 2021
interesting stories, well written. most of them didn’t seem to have much point to them at all but maybe that’s the intention. I found it a bit of a slog to read about half way through.
October 18, 2022
More than half of the stories ended unresolved - intentionally, but not well-executed at all. That being said, there are a couple of interesting and surreal stories that were very enjoyable.
February 15, 2023
I really enjoyed these short stories, but (greedily) wanted more resolution; like when you're eating and you feel like you're not quite full.
January 9, 2024
These stories are Poe-like in the way they lure and haunt. The style is measured and quiet with its deceptions while the stories precisely told are shrouded in mystery. I wish I could read Arabic as I suspect the language of these tales has rhythms and sounds that would significantly contribute.
December 30, 2024
A complex arrangement of short stories, examining age, death, injustice, desire and entitlement. A solid read but perhaps not a sublime one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews