Naguib Mahfouz et le théâtre réaliste : une plume pathétique au service de la raison universelle et humaniste

Abstract

Naguib Mahfouz and Realist Theatre: a Poignant Pen in the Service of Universal and Humanist Reason
Naguib Mahfouz’s poignant prose evokes intense emotions in the readers and spectators of his plays, compelling them to confront reality while artistically inviting them into a waking dream. His dramatic writing, imbued with nostalgia and melancholy, seems like a mirror he holds up, much like Marcel Proust, to the Cairo neighborhood where the scenes unfold and where the characters unwittingly reveal themselves, all under the playwright’s sarcastic gaze, a man who arrogates to himself the right to be the sole omniscient and omnipotent observer. His aim is to shape the popular imagination through the notions of virtue, the individual, sensitivity, freedom, dreams, and reason—concepts that characterize Enlightenment theater—and make it relatable to contemporary humanist culture. This moralizing theatre, heir to Molière, masterfully manipulates the spectators’ emotional experience and catharsis, serving to transcend misfortune, crime, sordidness, vice, and pessimism in favor of universal values. This civilizing mission is explored in both his novels and short stories. Thus, the novelist-playwright aspired to profoundly alter the form of theatre, aiming to metaphysically reveal the absurdity of the world, politics, and religions, as well as the value of the quest for moral freedom, which only resurrection could grant.