#532 The Time and the Place- Naguib Mahfouz
A man is in state of transition, physically, spiritually,
symbolically. These are the “days of insecurity” and as he is about to leave
his home, he has a crisis of conscience.
“All at once I felt that I was being required to do
something, something from which there was no escape.”
“For no reason a listlessness gripped at my feeling of
well-being, after which I was overcome by a mysterious sense of unease. I
steeled myself to fight against it, but the whole of life piled up before my
eyes in a fleeting flash, like a ball of light flung forward with cosmic speed;
in no time it was extinguished, giving itself up to the unknown, submerged in
its endless depths.”
He has dreams and he is unsure whether they are real
occurrences or prophetic visions. His soul is struggling in a waking limbo of
uncertainty. But he is being lifted by this experience.
“My imagination went roaming through the vastness of time
that comprised past, present, and future together, drunk with the intoxication
that total freedom brings.”
This is such a rich and fulfilling style of prose. It amazes
me that even in translation and separated by age and culture, that these
stories can still exude such emotion. I cant imagine what it must have been
like to first read this in it’s original language.
Notable Passage: “My heart became filled with the delights
and pains of living in expectation.”
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