Naguib Mahfouz's Miramar: Core of nostalgia steeped in honey and tears

 



In 1967, Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz wrote Miramar, a novel about four characters with divergent political values who live in a pension in post-revolutionary Alexandria.

Once again we see a novel opening with a description of the city itself as a site of nostalgia both bitter and sweet. The very first sentence: "Alexandria. At last. Alexandria, Lady of the Dew. Bloom of white nimbus. Bosom of radiance, wet with sky water. Core of nostalgia steeped in honey and tears."

(Mahfuz, Najib. Miramar. London : Heinemann, 1978.)