Naguib Mahfouz, the 92 year-old Egyptian novelist and short-story writer and winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature, was taken out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to a private room after his health condition improved. Doctors supervising the condition of the writer reassured that he will be able to check out of hospital and return home in the very near future.
According to the Kuwait based daily, Al Rai Al Aam, close contacts to Mahfouz denied the fact that the writer will be able to leave the hospital and added that strict security measures have been taken to forbid any visitors at the hospital. Restrictions have been taken due to the critical health condition of Mahfouz and most guest are told that he has already left the hospital to stop them from seeing him.
Naguib was first admitted to hospital in mid-January after experiencing a severe case of pneumonia. Dr. Mohammad Said and Ahmad Jad, who are supervising his condition, said that Najuib’s e was experiencing a very high fever and his condition was not very promising primarily due to his old age.
The wife of the great writer, Atia Allah, said that her husband had been experiencing difficulties in breathing and his memory began to worsen as his fever increased. She added that her husband will remain hospitalized for a few days until his condition improves.
Mahfouz was sent to Al Shurta Hospital in Ajouza-Egypt which is located right next to his home. His daughters and other family members along with his wife accompanied him to hospital. A number of other prominent writers have made it a point to remain by the side of the novelist until they are sure his condition has improved.
Naguib is the best known and most widely respected contemporary writer in Egypt and probably the whole Arab world. In 1988 he became the first Arabic writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Mahfouz's novels are characterized by realistic depictions of social and political life and include fictional explorations of such social issues as the position of women and political prisoners. Much of his reputation is based on his 1956-57 “Cairo Trilogy,” Bayn al-Qasrayn,Qasr ash-Shawq, and As-Sukkariyya (tr. as Palace Walk, 1989, Palace of Desire, 1991, and Sugar Street, 1992)a sweeping series of novels that traces the history of a middle-class Egyptian Muslim family between 1917 and 1952. –Albawaba.com
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