The Harafish

E25973

The Harafish is a celebrated novel by Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz that traces the rise and fall of a Cairo alley’s families across generations, blending mythic storytelling with social realism.

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Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Awlad Haratina 1
Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo novels 1

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf literary work
novel
author Naguib Mahfouz
authorAward Nobel Prize in Literature
authorAwardedForBodyOfWork Naguib Mahfouz
authorNationality Egyptian
countryOfOrigin Egypt
genre family saga
mythic fiction
social realism
hasAudience adult readers
hasCharacterType marginalized urban poor
strong patriarchal figures
hasCriticalReception celebrated
highly regarded in world literature
hasCulturalContext modern Egyptian society
hasCulturalSignificance important novel in modern Arabic fiction
major work in Naguib Mahfouz’s oeuvre
hasForm prose
hasImagery alley as microcosm of society
hasInfluenceOn Arabic narrative tradition
hasMotif cyclical rise and fall of power
honor and shame
violence and protection
hasNarrativeMode third-person narration
hasSettingElement Midaq Alley
surface form: Cairo alley
hasStructure episodic
hasTemporalScope spans several generations
hasTopic community and belonging
leadership and tyranny
moral ambiguity
social hierarchy
literaryPeriod 20th-century Arabic literature
literaryStyle blend of myth and realism
mainTheme class and poverty
fate and destiny
power and corruption
rise and fall of families
social justice
narrativeScope multiple generations
notableFor allegorical storytelling
depiction of urban Egyptian life
intergenerational narrative
originalLanguage Arabic
settingLocation Cairo
Egypt

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

this entity surface form: Awlad Haratina
Naguib Mahfouz notableWork The Harafish
Midaq Alley partOf The Harafish
this entity surface form: Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo novels