Before the Throne by Naguib Mahfouz

Before the Throne by Naguib Mahfouz

Nearly sixty of Egypt's past leaders-from the time of the Pharoahs to the twentieth century-are summoned to judgment in the Court of Osiris in the Afterlife, in this extraordinary novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz.

Before the Throne calls forth a parade of those who have shaped the modern nation of Egypt-from the ruler who first unified Egypt in 3000 BC to Anwar Sadat, the president assassinated by religious extremists in 1981, and including figures as various as the famous pharaoh Ramesses II and the medieval vizier Qaraqush. As they defend their decisions under questioning by Osiris, Isis, and Horus, those who acted for the nation's good are honored with immortality in paradise while those who failed to protect it are condemned either to the inferno or to "the place of insignificance." Full of Mahfouz's unique insight into his country's timeless qualities, this provocative work skillfully traces five thousand years of Egypt's past as it flows into the turbulent present.

Translated from the Arabic by Raymond Stock

Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) was born in Gamaliya, a busy Cairo neighborhood. He penned approximately 40 novels, as well as hundreds of short stories and screenplays. In 1988, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Kay Heikkinen earned her PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University, where she initially developed an interest in Arabic history, language, and literature. She has taught medieval history and literature, as well as Islamic civilization, at the University of Chicago, where she presently teaches Arabic.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780307742568
ISBN 10	0307742563
Title	Before the Throne
Author	Naguib Mahfouz
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2012-07-03
Number of pages	176
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.