AUC Press to Translate All 35 of Mahfouz’s Novels in Time for Novelist’s Centenary

Welcome to the year (before the year) of Naguib Mahfouz!

On what would have been the Egyptian Nobel laureate’s 99th birthday this past Dec. 11, critic and academic Dr. Gaber Asfour noted that—in honor of Mahfouz’s coming 100th—“for the whole coming year, we have conferences, celebrations…to feel the extraordinary work of Naguib Mahfouz.”

Mark Linz, AUC Press’s director, added later in the evening: “Many celebrations have already…started around the country, and hopefully around the world soon.”

The Press also announced, in its news release, the recent or forthcoming translations of five more Mahfouz novels: The Coffeehouse (translated by Raymond Stock, which should be available this month); In the Time of Love (translated by Kay Heikkinen, made available earlier this year); The Final Hour (translated by Roger Allen, also available earlier this year), Heart of the Night (translated by Aida Bamia, scheduled for release next spring), and Love in the Rain (translated by Nancy Roberts, also scheduled for release next spring).

The news release announces:

With these publications, the AUC Press will have completed the English translation of all 35 of the Nobel laureate’s novels, in addition to 7 other volumes of short stories and autobiographical and other works, in time for the centenary of his birth in December 2011.

That’s certainly a lot of volume—and they really looked like a hefty something as a leather-bound set presented to outgoing AUC President David Arnold—so let’s hope that they’re all quite high-quality translations as well.

I don’t have any of the new volumes; M.A. Orthofer over at The Complete Review is perhaps the most prolific Mahfouz reviewer out there. You can see his opinions on many of the translations.

Thanks to Raymond Stock (the translator who was refused re-entry last week) for directing my attention back to the Mahfouz Medal news release.