『나일강 위의 잡담』에 나타난 1960년대 이집트 지식인의 이미지

Image of Egyptian Intellectual Class in the 1960s as Shown in Adrift on the Nile by Najib Mahfuz

The article aims at surveying the image of intellectual class in Egypt in the 1960s as reflected in the novel Thartharah Fawq al-Nīl (Adrift on the Nile) by Najib Mahfuz. Egyptian society under Nasser’s rule was so authoritarian and undemocratic that the majority of the people suffered from suppression in various fields. The novel deals with frustrated intellectuals who gathered in a houseboat to be absorbed in morally ruined life; hashish addiction, alcohol and sex. The main focus of the article consists in Najib Mahfuz’s strategy employed to describe intellectuals and the wider society at that time. He relied on representing meaningful places like the Nile and houseboat as settings, and adopting characters who criticise the regime, but are not trustworthy because of the influence of drug, and the absurd language that is different from the author’s widely-known style. Mahfuz saw the intellectual class, and the regime which brought about the political and social degradation with a critical eye. It seems, however, that he was waiting for a better society and a real reformer when he made the main character Anis Zaki hear a voice saying that the head of the whale would appear soon from the deep water. Mahfuz did not lose hope while it was in the intellectual’s conscience.