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Alaa Fathy

Dr Naglaa Abo Agag, Miss Sara Hegazi

Modern Arabic Literature

Examining the Personal and the Political in Mahfouz’s Wedding Song

Naguib Mahfouz is a household name in Egypt as a master writer and a Nobel Laureate

—the first to win in Literature from the Arab world. His name is also associated with

controversy as he attracts criticism mainly from conservatives who denounce the portrayal of

‘immoral’ characters, exposing social ailments and chronicling taboos, of which Mahfouz’s

literature is characteristic. “In all my writing, you will find politics.” Mahfouz once stated, “You

may find a story which ignores love, or any other subject, but not politics; it is the very axis of

our thinking” (qtd. in El-Enany 23). Though a master of storytelling, Mahfouz is essentially an

intellectual and a social critic, and the commentary, or rather the exposition of the social and

political climate is foundational to all of Mahfouz’s literature.

One of Mahfouz’s great works—though not usually cited among the best works, is his

short novel Wedding Song (1981) which stylistically stands out in Mahfouz’s oeuvre, along with

Miramar (1967) and The Day the Leader was Killed (1985), having been narrated through

different points of view of the characters. Mahfouz the storyteller in Wedding Song threads a

complex story of a group of people working in a theatre: it recounts love in different stages and

forms, familial upbringing and its influence on the self and interpersonal relationships, the

paradox of morality and ideals between art and reality, but Mahfouz the social critic most

remarkably offers a critique of the socio-political background of the 1980s. The core of the social

predicament of the time is largely conveyed through the two polar-opposite characters of the

novel: Karam Younis and Abbas Karam Younis.

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The father-son relationship depicts two different generations or modes of relations to

their society and the world at large. Karam Younis’ character is filled with contradictions The

father-son relationship depicts two different generations or modes of relation to society and the

world at large. Karam Younis’ character is filled with contradictions representative of the

contradictory age of Anwar El-Sadat’s infitah policy. He is a drug addict who turned his house

into a gambling place and a private brothel to gain easy money. According to him, his actions are

justified by his subjective moral compass which deems virtues as empty slogans whose place is

in theatres and mosques, not reality. However, those who believe in an objective morality such as

Halima and Abbas he calls ‘hypocrites’ for not seeing life as it is: corrupt and unjust. Karam

disapproves of state hypocrisy that sent him to prison for things it runs and allows in secret; he

sees everyone as equally corrupt and it is only a matter of luck to escape condemnation. This

conflict mirrors the political discourse of the time that was immersed in idealistic rhetoric and

underneath there was divisive gap starting a decade earlier following the Six-Day War also

known as Al-Naksah (The Setback) that transformed society as the rich became richer and the

poor became poorer and saw a rampant increase of drugs and prostitution, marking a total

disillusionment from authority.

On the other hand, named an ‘angel’ by his mother, Abbas Karam Younis represents

those ideals. He grew up learning morals from literature and theatre and continues to follow the

Nasserist dream of a better world. Despite the setback, he still sings the songs of the revolution.

In contrast to Karam, Abbas genuinely believes in idealistic virtues which are not as relative as

Karam’s and therefore despises his parent’s lifestyle and condemns them in the play he writes.

The play represents Abbas taking control of the narrative as a writer in his fictional world where
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he failed. In this fictional and idealistic world, the one Abbas longs for, all sinners are

condemned, even Tahiya his wife whom he loved and forgave.

Ultimately, Mahfouz not only set his characters within a certain time frame, but he also

told a story that was went beyond the personal and blatantly represented the social and political

climate and its influences on relationships and the life of Egyptians at the time.

Works Cited

El Enany, Rasheed. Naguib Mahfouz: The Pursuit of Meaning. Routledge. 1993