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| Arabic |
Read at the Swedish Academy by Mr.
Mohamed Salmawy
(first in Arabic, then in English)
(Translation)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
To begin with I would like to thank the Swedish
Academy and its Nobel committee for taking notice of my long
and perseverant endeavours, and I would like you to accept my
talk with tolerance. For it comes in a language unknown to many
of you. But it is the real winner of the prize. It is, therefore,
meant that its melodies should float for the first time into your
oasis of culture and civilization. I have great hopes that this
will not be the last time either, and that literary writers of my
nation will have the pleasure to sit with full merit amongst your
international writers who have spread the fragrance of joy and
wisdom in this grief-ridden world of ours.
I was told by a foreign correspondent in Cairo that the moment my
name was mentioned in connection with the prize silence fell, and
many wondered who I was. Permit me, then, to present myself in as
objective a manner as is humanly possible. I am the son of two
civilizations that at a certain age in history have formed a
happy marriage. The first of these, seven thousand years old, is
the Pharaonic civilization; the second, one thousand four hundred
years old, is the Islamic one. I am perhaps in no need to
introduce to any of you either of the two, you being the elite,
the learned ones. But there is no harm, in our present situation
of acquaintance and communion, in a mere reminder.
As for Pharaonic civilization I will not talk of the conquests
and the building of empires. This has become a worn out pride the
mention of which modern conscience, thank God, feels uneasy
about. Nor will I talk about how it was guided for the first time
to the existence of God and its ushering in the dawn of human
conscience. This is a long history and there is not one of you
who is not acquainted with the prophet-king Akhenaton. I will not
even speak of this civilization's achievements in art and
literature, and its renowned miracles: the Pyramids and the
Sphinx and Karnak. For he who has not had the chance to see these
monuments has read about them and pondered over their
forms.
Let me, then, introduce Pharaonic civilization with what seems
like a story since my personal circumstances have ordained that I
become a storyteller. Hear, then, this recorded historical
incident: Old papyri relate that Pharaoh had learned of the
existence of a sinful relation between some women of the harem
and men of his court. It was expected that he should finish them
off in accordance with the spirit of his time. But he, instead,
called to his presence the choice men of law and asked them to
investigate what he has come to learn. He told them that he
wanted the Truth so that he could pass his sentence with
Justice.
This conduct, in my opinion, is greater than founding an empire
or building the Pyramids. It is more telling of the superiority
of that civilization than any riches or splendour. Gone now is
that civilization - a mere story of the past. One day the great
Pyramid will disappear too. But Truth and Justice will remain for
as long as Mankind has a ruminative mind and a living
conscience.
As for Islamic civilization I will not talk about its call for
the establishment of a union between all Mankind under the
guardianship of the Creator, based on freedom, equality and
forgiveness. Nor will I talk about the greatness of its prophet.
For among your thinkers there are those who regard him the
greatest man in history. I will not talk of its conquests which
have planted thousands of minarets calling for worship,
devoutness and good throughout great expanses of land from the
environs of India and China to the boundaries of France. Nor will
I talk of the fraternity between religions and races that has
been achieved in its embrace in a spirit of tolerance unknown to
Mankind neither before nor since.
I will, instead, introduce that civilization in a moving dramatic
situation summarizing one of its most conspicuous traits: In one
victorious battle against Byzantium it has given back its
prisoners of war in return for a number of books of the ancient
Greek heritage in philosophy, medicine and mathematics. This is a
testimony of value for the human spirit in its demand for
knowledge, even though the demander was a believer in God and the
demanded a fruit of a pagan civilization.
It was my fate, ladies and gentlemen, to be born in the lap of
these two civilizations, and to absorb their milk, to feed on
their literature and art. Then I drank the nectar of your rich
and fascinating culture. From the inspiration of all this - as
well as my own anxieties - words bedewed from me. These words had
the fortune to merit the appreciation of your revered Academy
which has crowned my endeavour with the great Nobel Prize. Thanks
be to it in my name and in the name of those great departed
builders who have founded the two civilizations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You may be wondering: This man coming from the third world, how
did he find the peace of mind to write stories? You are perfectly
right. I come from a world labouring under the burden of debts
whose paying back exposes it to starvation or very close to it.
Some of its people perish in Asia from floods, others do so in
Africa from famine. In South Africa millions have been undone
with rejection and with deprivation of all human rights in the
age of human rights, as though they were not counted among
humans. In the West Bank and Gaza there are people who are lost
in spite of the fact that they are living on their own land; land
of their fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers. They have
risen to demand the first right secured by primitive Man; namely,
that they should have their proper place recognized by others as
their own. They were paid back for their brave and noble move -
men, women, youths and children alike - by the breaking of bones,
killing with bullets, destroying of houses and torture in prisons
and camps. Surrounding them are 150 million Arabs following what
is happening in anger and grief. This threatens the area with a
disaster if it is not saved by the wisdom of those desirous of a
just and comprehensive peace.
Yes, how did the man coming from the Third World find the peace
of mind to write stories? Fortunately, art is generous and
sympathetic. In the same way that it dwells with the happy ones
it does not desert the wretched. It offers both alike the
convenient means for expressing what swells up in their
bosom.
In this decisive moment in the history of civilization it is
inconceivable and unacceptable that the moans of Mankind should
die out in the void. There is no doubt that Mankind has at last
come of age, and our era carries the expectations of
entente between the Super Powers. The human mind now
assumes the task of eliminating all causes of destruction and
annihilation. And just as scientists exert themselves to cleanse
the environment of industrial pollution, intellectuals ought to
exert themselves to cleanse humanity of moral pollution. It is
both our right and duty to demand of the big leaders in the
countries of civilization as well as their economists to affect a
real leap that would place them into the focus of the age.
In the olden times every leader worked for the good of his own
nation alone. The others were considered adversaries, or subjects
of exploitation. There was no regard to any value but that of
superiority and personal glory. For the sake of this, many
morals, ideals and values were wasted; many unethical means were
justified; many uncounted souls were made to perish. Lies,
deceit, treachery, cruelty reigned as the signs of sagacity and
the proof of greatness. Today, this view needs to be changed from
its very source. Today, the greatness of a civilized leader ought
to be measured by the universality of his vision and his sense of
responsibility towards all humankind. The developed world and the
Third World are but one family. Each human being bears
responsibility towards it by the degree of what he has obtained
of knowledge, wisdom, and civilization. I would not be exceeding
the limits of my duty if I told thom in the name of the Third
World: Be not spectators to our miseries. You have to play
therein a noble role befitting your status. From your position of
superiority you are responsible for any misdirection of animal,
or plant, to say nothing of Man, in any of the four corners of
the world. We have had enough of words. Now is the time for
action. It is time to end the age of brigands and usurers. We are
in the age of leaders responsible for the whole globe. Save the
enslaved in the African south! Save the famished in Africa! Save
the Palestinians from the bullets and the torture! Nay, save the
Israelis from profaning their great spiritual heritage! Save the
ones in debt from the rigid laws of economy! Draw their attention
to the fact that their responsibility to Mankind should precede
their commitment to the laws of a science that Time has perhaps
overtaken.
I beg your pardon, ladies and gentlemen, I feel I may have
somewhat troubled your calm. But what do you expect from one
coming from the Third World? Is not every vessel coloured by what
it contains? Besides, where can the moans of Mankind find a place
to resound if not in your oasis of civilization planted by its
great founder for the service of science, literature and sublime
human values? And as he did one day by consecrating his riches to
the service of good, in the hope of obtaining forgiveness, we,
children of the Third World, demand of the able ones, the
civilized ones, to follow his example, to imbibe his conduct, to
meditate upon his vision.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In spite of all what goes on around us I am committed to optimism
until the end. I do not say with Kant that Good will be
victorious in the other world. Good is achieving victory every
day. It may even be that Evil is weaker than we imagine. In front
of us is an indelible proof: were it not for the fact that
victory is always on the side of Good, hordes of wandering humans
would not have been able in the face of beasts and insects,
natural disasters, fear and egotism, to grow and multiply. They
would not have been able to form nations, to excel in
creativeness and invention, to conquer outer space, and to
declare Human Rights. The truth of the matter is that Evil is a
loud and boisterous debaucherer, and that Man remembers what
hurts more than what pleases. Our great poet Abul-'Alaa'
Al-Ma'ari was right when he said:
"A grief at the hour of death
Is more than a hundred-fold
Joy at the hour of birth."
I finally reiterate my thanks and ask your forgiveness.
Translated by Mohammed Salmawy.
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1981-1990, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Sture Allén, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1993
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1988
Naguib Mahfouz
