The Dreams by Naguib Mahfouz - Essay Example

“The Dreams” is an example of a collection of short stories that professionally depict the social, economic, and political lives of Egypt through a list of short dreams, designed and narrated by Naguib Mahfouz. First published in 2000, the collection of 104 dreams reflects many of Mahfouz’s hopes and expectations for the kind of life that is better to prevail in Egypt in the new millennium. After a deep and long experience in writing, Mahfouz wanted to end his writing career by publishing his views, ideas, and thoughts in a form of dreams that reflect his vision for the future of Egypt.

These dreams are rich and varied, containing Mahfouz’s night-thoughts and elaborate scenes. In most of these dreams, Mahfouz recalls people, scenes and situations from his earlier life, making nice connections to the present and the future, which Mahfouz looks for. “The Dreams” makes it clear that Mahfouz is a prolific writer as he produced a great number of novels and short stories that discuss a variety of issues related to his society and environment. The greatness of Mahfouz as a novelist and story teller does not only lie in his professionalism in writing, but also in his success in giving clear pictures of the social, economic, and political lives in the Arab world.

And Middle East. This success stems from his closeness to all the social classes and understanding of their problems and sufferings. For example, in many of the novels that are written by Naguib Mahfouz, he depicts the Egyptian streets and allies in a way that is very close to reality. Even in “the Dreams,” Mahfouz’s closeness to his social surroundings is recurrently reflected in the various details of the scenes he depicts and the characters he portrays. In the collection of the dreams that are professionally drawn by Mahfouz, the author’s sense of self is uniquely interwoven with his views about the surrounding social circumstances that dominated Egypt during the time of publishing the collection.

This evolving sense of self for Mahfouz is clearly revealed by the changes to the houses that fill his dreams. For example, the recurrent appearance of a certain woman in his dreams may represent his old soul mate or lover, from a psychological perspective. Taking dream number 29, for instance, we view Mahfouz in a conversation with his literary cohorts, when he mentions a female writer he esteems. In this dream, the reader can easily feel Mahfouz’s annoyance when he listens to his companions, criticizing the woman’s social pretensions and depravity.

This annoyance of Mahfouz is clearly reflected in his quick exit from the scene, and then he meets another woman in the elevator after he leaves. While talking with him about false friendship, this woman suddenly robs Mahfouz at gunpoint. These beautifully-designed scenes in one dream reflect Mahfouz’s talent in sending numerous positive messages via eloquently-built small paragraphs. In this context, the reader of Mahfouz’s dreams may find them luminous and optimistic, in addition to their being shimmering with vitality.

Hence, the reader of Mahfouz’s dreams should be aware that those dreams, for the author, are not mere psychological reflections on events and people from the past; rather, these dreams are masterfully used as a fertile ground for a literary