Name: Naguib Mahfouz
Year Won: 1988
Read: Akhenatan/i>
Original Language: Arabic
Reason: "who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind"
About: Akehenatan follows the lives around the heretic pharoah. Most don't like him which is historically correct. (As it turns out, people generally aren't huge fans of casting out their traditions and gods. Whoda thunk?) Most seem very interested in explaining all the ways in which they hate Akhenatan, or his wife Nefertiti. Which makes for a wonderfully, juicy novel in which people air their grievances against each other.
What I liked: I love ancient Egypt so...this is my thing to begin with. But the gossipy voice? OMG. This is all I ever wanted from a novel. I am a small, petty person. But I am SO into the people around an ancient pharoah dissing him. This stuff is glorious.
What I Disliked: Like most Nobel prize winners, there is no plot. This is mostly people around an important historical figure dishing the tea. I love it. But this isn't an actual story with a plot. Still...woah is it fun to read. It's like reading the Sun from several thousand years ago just...more so. There is so much gossip in the ancient Egyptian lineages!
Should it have won a Nobel: On the one hand, this seems to be what they're going for - plotless, well described stuff. On the other...woah was this fun! (Mahfoiuz's other stuff is fun, too, although I think a bit more restrained.) But...y'know...if what it takes to win a prize is extremely entertaining soap opera stuff from a culture that isn't Nordic, I am ALL FOR IT. Seriously, this is the best thing I've read in years. More like it, please? Pleae?
Next Up: "The Family of Pascal Duarte" by Camilo José Cela
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