Naguib Mahfouz: Wedding Song

[Heteronym]

Naguib Mahfouz borrows the structure from William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury to tell the same story from four points of view. Abbás, a young mediocre playwright, finally produces a play that someone wants to produce. The producer believes in its success because the play is clearly autobiographical and full of scandals surrounding Abbás and his family.

We follow four first-person narratives – Tariq, an actor who loved Tahiya, Abbás wife, and thinks the playwright killed her and their son; Karam, Abbás’ father, who despises his son; Halima, Abbás mother, who put all her hopes in her son and feels betrayed about the way he portrays her in the play; and of course Abbás.

The four voices fall in place like a jigsaw puzzle, slowly describing Abbás unhappy childhood, his growing hatred of Karam and the slow falling apart with his mother, his attempts at becoming a playwright, and the marriage with Tahiya that nearly destroys his artistic ambitions.

The novel also explores the line between fiction and reality, and the toll an artist must pay who wishes to portray his own life in his art. The question arises whether it’s morally right to change facts about peoples’ lives for the sake of art and shows how that can affect their lives outside the work of art.

Finally, Wedding Song is a beautifully and concisely-written short novel, in which not a word is out of place or in excess. Naguib Mahfouz puts an entire lifetime within less then 200 pages and paints four vivid portraits of four distinct people, with their own voices, prejudices, ambitions, losses and hatreds.

I seldom read this author, but when I do I always marvel at his talent.

[Amoxcalli]

I've just finished this novella, and I thought it was excellent. I've not read anything else by Naguib Mahfouz yet, but I found his style to be superb, if somewhat hard to follow.

Excellent novella though! One of the best, if not the best I've read.

[Heteronym]

Continue reading Naguib Mahfouz!

I've read three novels by him so far and have yet to be disappointed. He can write anything: humor, drama, history, fantasy.

I don't think his style is hard to follow, although the structure in the novel was complex because he tells the same story from four different perspectives. But his other novels are more linear.

Read Arabian Nights and Days: it's funny, magical and addictive.

[Amoxcalli]

You're right, it's not really the style that's difficult to get into as much as it is the chaotic (it felt chaotic to me anyway. If there was some intricate structure, I must've missed it) structure of the novella.

Also, I've just looked and it must be my lucky day; we've got Arabian Nights and Days in the family library, waiting to be read! Thank you for the suggestion.

Also, may I ask how you feel about the Cairo Trilogy? It looks fantastic, but so far I've been too intimidated by its size and magnum opus status that I haven't dared touch it yet.

[Heteronym]

I've not yet The Cairo Trilogy: its size intimidates me too and I'd like to have a lot of free time to read it.

Arabian Nights and Days is a wonderful choice: it's a homage to The Arabian Nights; it's slightly fantastical, and very humorous. It was my first Mahfouz novel.

[Amoxcalli]

I'll definitely have a look at that one, then. Can I read it straight away, or will I need to read Arabian Nights first in order to get the full experience of the novel?

Also, I've just finished the novel Respected Sir by him. At first, the style bothered me a little, and I almost put it down, but now that I've finished it, I'm glad I didn't. Maybe it's because I caught myself identifying with the plain unlikeable main character, but whatever the case, it was somewhere between a magnificent and a deeply disturbing read, which is a great place to be for a novel, if you ask me. I can recommend it!

[Heteronym]

I haven't read The Arabian Nights yet but I thoroughly enjoyed the novel nevertheless. Of course I'm sure reading it before would shine a different light on Mahfouz' novel.

[Thit Soe]

Originally Posted by Heteronym

Continue reading Naguib Mahfouz!

I've read three novels by him so far and have yet to be disappointed. He can write anything: humor, drama, history, fantasy.

I don't think his style is hard to follow, although the structure in the novel was complex because he tells the same story from four different perspectives. But his other novels are more linear.

Read Arabian Nights and Days: it's funny, magical and addictive.

I want to read Naguib Mahfouz's literary pieces but I have no chance because I cannot buy my own _ for this point, in my country , an ordinary citizen like me has no right to handle a kind of any foreign currency and it will lead me into a crime with about at least three years of imprisonment in a jail.
I cannot search for the books here and I want someone's help. Who would help me ?

SOE

[waalkwriter]

Children of the Alley was a quite impressive book and a wonderful religious allegory.

[Daniel del Real]

Originally Posted by waalkwriter

Children of the Alley was a quite impressive book and a wonderful religious allegory.

Absolutely right. The best Mahfouz I've read

[Lacra]

Originally Posted by Thit Soe

I want to read Naguib Mahfouz's literary pieces but I have no chance because I cannot buy my own _ for this point, in my country , an ordinary citizen like me has no right to handle a kind of any foreign currency and it will lead me into a crime with about at least three years of imprisonment in a jail.
I cannot search for the books here and I want someone's help. Who would help me ?

SOE

I have only "The Day the Leader Was Killed" by Naguib Mahfouz in electronic format. If you want it, send me a pm and you will get it.

[Heteronym]

Originally Posted by Thit Soe

I cannot search for the books here and I want someone's help. Who would help me?

Where are you from?

[Periquito]

I recently finished WEDDING SONG and wrote a short, summary review on Amazon. The structure of the four parts united an otherwise slippery narrative--were the mixed points of view of Tariq, father, and mother reliable; why is Abbas absent or late to his play?. Abbas appears finally to clarify and expand, quite surprisingly, his life and whereabouts.

I had read Mahfouz a long time ago but needed WS to refresh my memory. PALACE WALK, part one of the Cairo Trilogy, was recommended for its depiction of the Egyptian family and so far is enjoyable.