著者

福田 義昭

出版者

学術雑誌目次速報データベース由来

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.40, no.1, pp.139-154, 1997

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Najib Mahfuz's <i>Tharthara fawq al-Nil</i>, published in 1966, has always been regarded as a "prophetic" novel of Egypt's defeat in the 1967 War. It is basically a satirical novel depicting Egyptian society and its intelligentsia under Nasser's regime in the 60's. It is, however, important to read <i>Tharthara</i> not as a mere political satire, but as a novel of universal nature which narrates artistically a story about the everlasting confrontation between "linear time" and "cyclical time" or between "sense" and "nonsense."<br>The whole structure of the novel can be reduced to the confrontation between (linear time-seriousness-sense-Samara) and (cyclical time-jest-nonsense-Anis). Although some critics say that Anis had changed his position and become serious at the end of the story, it is evident from a close reading of the text that he does not really want to do so. Rather, it is better to regard him as a fool or a trickster, and confine his role to that of giving a hint or an implication.<br>Another important aspect of this novel is its metafictional devices: Samara's scenario of a play and the characters' debate on the drama in Egypt. These devices violate the frame of the novel itself and deconstruct it to make every reading uncertain.<br>It should, then, be concluded that <i>Tharthara</i> is a novel which lays stress on uncertainty itself and that the "prophecy" of the novel, if there is any, originates from this very ambiguity.