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افضل قصة قرأتها في حياتي!
ما اعظمك يا محفوظ
ما اعظمك يا محفوظ
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The Seventh Heaven: Supernatural Stories
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Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz draws on his homeland’s rich engagement with the afterlife–and his own near-death experience at the hands of a would-be assassin–in these newly translated, brilliantly mysterious stories of the supernatural.
Among those who haunt these tales are the ghosts of Akhenaten, Woodrow Wilson, and Gamal Abd al-Nasser, who endure a strange system of earthly probation in the hope of gaining entry to the fabled Seventh Heaven; a teenager drawn into the secret, enchanted life he finds within his neighborhood’s forbidden wood; an honest perfume seller accosted on a night out by angry skeletons; and Satan himself, who confesses that there is still, despite the flood of evil in our times, an honorable man in the land. As ingenious at capturing the surreal as he is at documenting the very real social landscape of modern Cairo, Mahfouz guides these restless spirits as they migrate from the shadowy realms of other worlds to the haunted precincts of our own.
Among those who haunt these tales are the ghosts of Akhenaten, Woodrow Wilson, and Gamal Abd al-Nasser, who endure a strange system of earthly probation in the hope of gaining entry to the fabled Seventh Heaven; a teenager drawn into the secret, enchanted life he finds within his neighborhood’s forbidden wood; an honest perfume seller accosted on a night out by angry skeletons; and Satan himself, who confesses that there is still, despite the flood of evil in our times, an honorable man in the land. As ingenious at capturing the surreal as he is at documenting the very real social landscape of modern Cairo, Mahfouz guides these restless spirits as they migrate from the shadowy realms of other worlds to the haunted precincts of our own.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,2005
This edition
- Format
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192 pages, Paperback
- Published
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December 5, 2006 by Anchor
- ISBN
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9780307277145
- ASIN
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0307277143
- Language
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English
About the author
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Naguib Mahfouz (Arabic author profile: نجيب محفوظ) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Many of his works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films.
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Rating(4 / 5.0, 22 votes)
5 stars
7(32%)
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22 reviews All reviews
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What a collection! Each of these stories where printed separately in a span of more than twenty years from 1973 to 1999, and handpicked by the translator, Raymond Stock, for this edition. They are all magnificent, but my favorites were ‘The Seventh Heaven’ (1979), ‘The Disturbing Occurrences’ (1979), ‘Room no. 12’ (1973), ‘Forgetfulness’ (1984), ‘Man of Awesome Power’ (1996) and ‘The Rose Garden’ (1999). Some of them, like Forgetfulness were so chilling I could not keep on reading afterwards. I was completely mesmerized. Also, “Man of Awesome Power” reminded me of Jim Carrey’s movie ‘Bruce Almighty’, but better; with no Hollywood sweet ending. If you’ve never read Mahfouz, this is a good place to start.
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Tiene sus altibajos, pero no ha estado mal. Ha sido interesante.
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I only disliked that these were short stories and not full fledged books of their own. I loved the imagery, and all the differing styles, as well as all the possible views of what the afterlife holds.
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Rather dissapointing. Some of the stories are repetitive, and others seem to have a decent-enough premise for a middling Twilight Zone episode, but are tossed off without much development and they're all a little obvious and moralistic. The only one which really stood out for me was the one about a lady who checks into a hotel room and starts having more guests over than could imaginably fit in, I forget the title. That was refreshingly bizzare, with a very effective transition from apparent normalcy to grotesque disorder.
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This novel captures you even when you're on your guard I was taken in by the first page. And it became one of my favorites in the 11th.
Not only this novel is full of wisdom. It's witty and makes you think (in a good way!) I have often stopped to contemplate the lines, the words and thoughts behind this masterpiece. And every time I reach va conclusion I realized that I had nothing after all.
I found it very amusing. You laugh and think while flipping this hungrily to know what comes next. It was a fun ride
The novel mixed zen teachings, Arabic heritage and melodrama. The events are so amusing. The plot was carefully written as not to make it look complicated. I could see this in a movie production... I wonder if it is.
The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because some of the other stories were a bit dull or mystifying.
Not only this novel is full of wisdom. It's witty and makes you think (in a good way!) I have often stopped to contemplate the lines, the words and thoughts behind this masterpiece. And every time I reach va conclusion I realized that I had nothing after all.
I found it very amusing. You laugh and think while flipping this hungrily to know what comes next. It was a fun ride
The novel mixed zen teachings, Arabic heritage and melodrama. The events are so amusing. The plot was carefully written as not to make it look complicated. I could see this in a movie production... I wonder if it is.
The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because some of the other stories were a bit dull or mystifying.
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I really enjoyed many of these stories. My favorite by far is "Beyond the Clouds," followed by "The Seventh Heaven" itself. However, there were a few I didn't care for at all. This may be a result of my own lapses of understanding, but there were about three or four that didn't speak to me at all.
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the first story -- centering a murdered best friend and an afterlife taken from ancient Egypt -- is by far the most worth-reading of the collection. many of the other stories are generally interesting to read through, but can come off as both mild and a little too invested in social critique.
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