Nobel Prize

Swedish Avsides Är skrivande gåvan att smyga sig på, att anpassa sig till verkligheten? Man skulle ju gärna vilja anpassa sig, men vad sker då med mig? Vad sker med dem som verkligen inte känner verkligheten? Den är till den grad hoptovad. Ingen kam som kunde reda ut den. Författarna kammar igenom och samlar förtvivlat…

Swedish Utdrag ur Pianolärarinnan (Sid. 7–8 och 108–110) Pianolärarinnan Erika Kohut rusar som en virvelvind in i lägenheten som hon delar med sin mor. Modern tycker om att kalla Erika sin lilla virvelvind, för barnet rör sig ibland extremt snabbt. Hon försöker undkomma sin mor. Erika är på väg mot de fyrtio. Modern skulle vad…

English Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1989 (Translation) Eulogy to the Fable Distinguished Academicians, My old friend and mentor Pío Baroja – who did not receive the Nobel Prize because the bright light of success does not always fall on the righteous – had a clock on his wall. Around the face of that clock there…

Camilo José Cela’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1989 Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Swedish Academy is honouring me by inscribing my name in the margins of the roll of illustrious personages of contemporary world literature. It is an honour which is out of all proportion to…

Swedish Utdrag ur Midaqq-gränden I Mycket vittnar om att Midaqq-gränden är en ädelsten från gångna tider och att den en gång lyst som en strålande stjärna i Kairos ärofulla historia. Vilket Kairo menar jag? Fatimidernas? Mamluckernas? Sultanernas? Det vet endast Allah och arkeologerna men Gränden är i vilket fall ett monument och ett dyrbart sådant.…

Arabic Excerpt from Midaq Alley (Zuqaq al-Midaq) Excerpt from Zuqaq al-Midaq Copyright © 1947 by Naguib Mahfouz Reprinted by arrangement with the American University in Cairo Press.

Excerpt from Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz Courtesy: Norstedts English Chapter One Many things combine to show that Midaq Alley is one of the gems of times gone by and that it once shone forth like a flashing star in the history of Cairo. Which Cairo do I mean? That of the Fatimids, the Mamlukes…

English Nobel Lecture, 8 December 1988 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 and its Nobel committee for taking notice of my long and perseverant endeavours, and I would like you to accept my talk…

  Excerpts from Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber – Reflections of a Nobel Laureate, 1994-2001. This celebratory volume was published at the occasion of Naguib Mahfouz’ 90th birthday, and is a collection of conversations between the author and his friend Mohamed Salmawy, Egyptian writer and journalist. Introduction In the early evening of Friday, 14 October…

Interview with Naguib Mahfouz by writer and journalist Mohamed Salmawy in March, 2006. Mohamed Salmawy: What did you feel when you knew you had won the Nobel Prize for Literature? Naguib Mahfouz: I felt extreme happiness as well as great astonishment. I never expected to win the prize. During my time Nobel was awarded to…