The Watcher on the Curb

Translator's note

Translated here especially for Aramco World, "A Visit" appeared in 1969 in a collection of short stories by Mahfouz entitled The Black Cat Tavern. The story epitomizes Mahfouz's narrative art, literary style and subject matter, and illustrates his human concerns. Typically, though it is set in Egypt and woven of Arab and Muslim threads, it depicts a situation of catholic interest. Its vivid, kaleidoscopic tapestry portrays psychologically nuanced characters dealing with fundamental human issues before a backdrop that shows the encroachment of modernity on tradition.

The story is interesting and reads well on its own, but through it runs a tantalizing vein of sybolism in which the various characters, some with evocative names, could be taken to reflect aspects of a universal, timeless drama here localized in 20th-century Egyptian society; human suffering, religion, reform, modernizm and romanticism. For example, the name of the main charater, 'Uyun, means "eyes" in Arabic; it also denotes something precious and could refer to Egyptian society itself. 'Uyun's servant's name is 'Adliyah, a familiar female name whose Arabic root means "justice". The plumber could stand for someone like the turbulent but influential Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, the 19th century's most outstanding political and social reformer, who was viewed with suspicion by the ailing Muslim society he criticized. The two other characters in the story - Buthaynah, the niece, and Taha, the Qur'an-reciter - may also have symbolic significance, but that, after all, is for the reader to decide. Received on any level, "A Visit" will knock persistently on the door of the reader's mind.