Written Homework Assignment #4: Midaq Alley
- As you read Midaq Alley for Wednesday’s class, please consider the questions below and write a 1-page response (Times 12, one inch margins) to the question assigned to you. Be prepared to share your response in class and to discuss the questions not assigned to you as well. Note: you do not need to email me your response until Thursday, Oct. 8, at 5pm. However, I still expect you to discuss your question in tomorrow’s class.
- Questions:
- In what ways do the limited physical and social confines of the alley assume national and even universal dimensions? What do you believe is a greater concern for Naguib Mahfouz in Midaq Alley: remaining true to the particularities of its specific environment, or evoking a broader vision of humanity? In what ways does the tension between specificity and generality appear as a central feature of the modern novel? (Becca, Rubi)
- Sheikh Darwish is something of an oddity amongst the cast of characters in Midaq Alley. Why might this be the case? Why might Naguib Mahfouz have written him into the novel? How does the character of Sheikh Darwish add to the “sensation” that Midaq Alley is a fully-fledged, modern novel? (Clair, Jordan)
- How may we read Midaq Alley as a national allegory? To what degree is this novel an expression of Naguib Mahfouz’ political and nationalist sentiment? How may we define this novel as an act of political expression and social commitment? (Oakley, Kizzy)
- How does the representation of character in Midaq Alley differ from what we’ve encountered in Broken Wings, Zaynab and earlier works of Arabic prose? Do the characters we meet in Midaq Alley strike you as representing something fundamentally different from the characters we’ve encountered previously, or do they strike you as a logical extension of them? (Lorenzo, Toni, Alex)
- How might this novel be read as a critique of the nahda, an endorsement of it, or both? At the same time, how should we understand Midaq Alley as a product of the nahda? Or can we reject the connection altogether? (Mayed, Nataliah)