Miramar
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: Third printing
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Set against the sun-bleached backdrop of Alexandria, Egypt, in the turbulent years following the 1952 revolution, Miramar is a masterwork of polyphonic storytelling that chronicles the lives of four very different men who converge under one roof — the Miramar pension — each carrying the weight of a nation in transition. Through the eyes of each lodger, Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz presents the story of Zohra, a young peasant girl seeking freedom and independence, whose presence acts as a mirror reflecting the moral character — and failures — of every man around her. The pension itself becomes a microcosm of Egyptian society, a pressure cooker where class resentment, political disillusionment, and personal corruption are laid bare with unflinching honesty. Mahfouz's genius lies in his ability to render the grand sweep of Egyptian history through the intimate textures of everyday life, and Miramar stands as one of his most formally audacious achievements, its shifting perspectives anticipating the fragmented narratives of postmodern fiction. His prose, rendered here in a meticulous English translation by Fatma Moussa Mahmoud and introduced by John Fowles, carries the rhythms of Arabic storytelling while remaining urgently accessible. Widely regarded as a cornerstone of twentieth-century world literature, this novel asks what it truly means to be free — and whether any revolution, political or personal, can deliver on its promise.
Author: Naguib Mahfouz
Format: Paperback
Published: 1987, The American University in Cairo Press
Genre: Modern fiction
Edition: Third printing
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Set against the sun-bleached backdrop of Alexandria, Egypt, in the turbulent years following the 1952 revolution, Miramar is a masterwork of polyphonic storytelling that chronicles the lives of four very different men who converge under one roof — the Miramar pension — each carrying the weight of a nation in transition. Through the eyes of each lodger, Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz presents the story of Zohra, a young peasant girl seeking freedom and independence, whose presence acts as a mirror reflecting the moral character — and failures — of every man around her. The pension itself becomes a microcosm of Egyptian society, a pressure cooker where class resentment, political disillusionment, and personal corruption are laid bare with unflinching honesty. Mahfouz's genius lies in his ability to render the grand sweep of Egyptian history through the intimate textures of everyday life, and Miramar stands as one of his most formally audacious achievements, its shifting perspectives anticipating the fragmented narratives of postmodern fiction. His prose, rendered here in a meticulous English translation by Fatma Moussa Mahmoud and introduced by John Fowles, carries the rhythms of Arabic storytelling while remaining urgently accessible. Widely regarded as a cornerstone of twentieth-century world literature, this novel asks what it truly means to be free — and whether any revolution, political or personal, can deliver on its promise.