# Cairo Trilogy > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cairo_Trilogy > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cairo_Trilogy.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Trilogy > Source revision: 1335700939 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1956–1957 Three novels by Nagib Mahfuz This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Cairo Trilogy" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Cairo Trilogy Author Naguib Mahfouz Original title ثلاثية القاهرة Translator William M. Hutchins, Olive Kenny, Lorne Kenny, Angele Botros Samaan Country Egypt Language Modern Standard Arabic Genre novel, family saga Published 1956–1957 Published in English 1990–1992 No. of books 3 The ***Cairo Trilogy*** ([Arabic](/source/Arabic_language): الثلاثية *ath-thulathia* ('The Trilogy') or ثلاثية القاهرة *thulathia al-Qahra*) is a [trilogy](/source/Trilogy) of novels written by the Egyptian novelist and [Nobel Prize in Literature](/source/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature) winner [Naguib Mahfouz](/source/Naguib_Mahfouz), and one of the major works of his literary career. The three novels are *[Palace Walk](/source/Palace_Walk)* (بين القصرين, *Bayn al-Qasrayn*), first Arabic publication 1956; *[Palace of Desire](/source/Palace_of_Desire_(novel))* (قصر الشوق, *Qasr al-Shawq*), 1957; and *[Sugar Street](/source/Sugar_Street_(Mahfouz_novel))* (السكرية, *Al-Sukkariyya*), 1957. ## Titles The three novels' Arabic titles are taken from the names of actual streets in [Cairo](/source/Cairo), the city of Mahfouz's childhood and youth. The first novel, *Bayn al-Qasrayn*, is named after the medieval Cairo street in the Gamaliya district where the strict socially conservative protagonist, Ahmad 'Abd al-Jawad, and his family live. The second novel, *Qasr al-Shawq*, is named after the street where his eldest son Yasin and his family live, and the third, *Al-Sukkariyya*, is named after the street where his daughter Khadijah and her family live. ## Narrative The trilogy follows the life of the Cairene patriarch Al-Sayyid (Mr.) Ahmad 'Abd al-Jawad and his family across three generations, from 1919 – the year of [Egyptian Revolution](/source/Egyptian_Revolution_of_1919) against the British colonizers ruling Egypt – to almost the end of the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) in 1944. The three novels represent three eras of Cairene socio-political life, a microcosm of early 20th century Egypt, through the life of one well-off Cairo merchant, his children and his grandchildren. To Kamal, 'Abd al-Jawad's youngest son, Mahfouz admits that he gives him some features of himself, as they both got a BA in philosophy from what is now the [University of Cairo](/source/University_of_Cairo) and have problems with profound contradictions they discern between religious principles and the scientific discoveries of the West. Seen as a child in the first novel, a university student in the second, and a teacher, not married, in the third, Kamal loses his faith in religion, in love, and in traditions and lives in the second and third novels as an outsider in his own society. He keeps searching for meaning of his life until the last scene, in which Kamal's attitude to life changes to the positive as he starts to see himself as 'idealistic' teacher, future husband and revolutionary man. Mahfouz sees the development of society as an important influence on the role of women. He represents the traditional, obedient women who do not go to school such as Amina, 'Abd al-Jawad's wife, and her daughters in the first novel; women as students in the university such as Aida, Kamal's beloved, in the second novel; and women as students in the university, members of the Marxist party and editors of the journal of the party in the third novel. Throughout the trilogy, Mahfouz develops his theme: social progress will be the inevitable result of the evolutionary spirit of humankind. Time is the major leitmotif in all three books, and its passage is marked in literal and symbolic ways, from the daily pounding of bread dough in the morning, which serves as an alarm clock for the family, to the hourly calls for prayers that ring out from the minarets of Cairo. In the first novel time moves slowly; this story belongs to Kamal, still a child. The permanence of childhood is pronounced, and the minutes often tick by like hours. And yet inevitable changes occur: sisters get married, babies are born, grandparents die, life goes on. The passage of time quickens in the following book, and doubles yet again in the third. By the time the trilogy concludes whole years seem to fly by to the middle-aged Kamal. ## Translations The English translation was published by [Doubleday](/source/Doubleday_(publisher)) in the early 1990s. The translators were: - *Palace Walk* - [William M. Hutchins](/source/William_M._Hutchins) and [Olive Kenny](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Olive_Kenny&action=edit&redlink=1) - *Palace of Desire* - Hutchins, Olive Kenny and [Lorne Kenny](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lorne_Kenny&action=edit&redlink=1) - *Sugar Street* - Hutchins, Olive Kenny and [Angele Botros Samaan](/source/Angele_Botros_Samaan) The translation was overseen by [Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis](/source/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis), an editor at Doubleday at the time, and Martha Levin.[1] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Hutchins mss., 1972-2002"](https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Li-VAA1274). Indiana University. Retrieved 28 June 2022. ## External links - Mahfouz, Naguib (2005), "The Situation of the Novel", *World Literature Today*, **79** (2), translated by Sultan, Sabbar S.: 46–47, [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/40158674](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F40158674), [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [40158674](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40158674) v t e Works by Naguib Mahfouz Cairo Trilogy Palace Walk (1956) Palace of Desire (1957) Sugar Street (1957) Other novels Khufu's Wisdom (1939) Rhadopis of Nubia (1943) Thebes at War (1944) Midaq Alley (1947) The Mirage (1948) The Beginning and the End (1949) Children of Gebelawi (1959) The Thief and the Dogs (1961) Autumn Quail (1962) The Search (1964) The Beggar (1965) Adrift on the Nile (1966) Miramar (1967) Mirrors (1972) Love in the Rain (1973) Karnak Café (1974) The Harafish (1977) Wedding Song (1981) Arabian Nights and Days (1982) The Journey of Ibn Fattouma (1983) The Day the Leader Was Killed (1983) Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth (1985) The Coffeehouse (1988) Short stories "Zaabalawi" (1961) "Qismati and Nasibi" (1982) Story collections Whisper of Madness (1947) God's World (1962) A Story Without a Beginning or an Ending (1971) The Crime (1973) Stories from Our Neighbourhood (1975) Screenplays The Adventures of Antar and Abla (1948) Your Day Will Come (1951) The Monster (1954) The Tough (1957) The Barred Road (1958) Jamila, the Algerian (1958) Between Heaven and Earth (1959) Allahu Akbar (1959) The Choice (1970) Adaptations The Beginning and the End (1960) Chased by the Dogs (1962) Saladin the Victorious (1963) Cairo 30 (1966) Khan El Khalili (1967) Chitchat on the Nile (1971) Karnak (1975) The Guilty (1975) The Beginning and the End (1993) Midaq Alley (1995) Authority control databases GND --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cairo Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Trilogy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Trilogy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.