Il crimine nell’opera di Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ
(Crime in the oeuvre of Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ)
in La rivista di Arablit, a. II, n. 3, giugno 2012, pp. 66-77.
This article offers an analysis of the conception of crime in Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ’s oeuvre. Literary criminals and their stories can, in fact, be seen as part of a counter narrative against the dominant conceptions of law, justice and morality imposed by power and authority. This is even more true when it comes to the fiction of a writer who overtly explores the political realm, just like the Egyptian Nobel Laureate does. Focusing on Bidāyah wa nihāyah, al-Ṭarīq and Yawma qutila al-zaʻīm, this study tries to show how Maḥfūẓ subverts some common criminal stereotypes by crafting his characters so that they can actually be a means for offering a harsh critique against several injustices and problems suffered by Egyptian citizens and contemporary societies on the whole.
