Portraitures scéniques et photographiques dans le drame de Naguib Mahfouz

Abstract

Scenic and Photographic Portraitures in Naguib Mahfouz’s Drama
Naguib Mahfouz is one of the pioneers of modern Arabic literature whose literary career encompassed both fiction and drama. This study proposes a photographic approach to Mahfouz’s dramatic writing by employing concepts derived from visual technologies, including focal length, composition, lens selection, and camera angles. Through this interdisciplinary perspective, theatrical characters are examined as visual elements within a photographic composition, bridging the gap between the dramatic text and its stage representation. Mahfouz’s plays, characterized by a rich symbolic structure, invite a visual reading in which light, shadow, framing, and movement interact with dramatic meaning. Applying AI-powered image generation tools alongside photographic techniques offers new possibilities for visualizing and recreating dramatic situations. This approach transforms textual elements into visual compositions inspired by photographic aesthetics, allowing dramatic narration to be reconsidered as a series of visual frames that reveal power relations, individual postures, and the tension between individual and collective.