The Many Lives of Ibrahim Nagui: A Journey with my Grandfather

by Samia Mehrez, Eleanor Ellis (Translator)

Overview

WINNER OF THE SAWIRIS CULTURAL AWARD

A multigenerational literary memoir that sheds new light on one of the Arab world’s most renowned Romantic poets, through the eyes of his granddaughter

Ibrahim Nagui (1898–1953) was one of the Arab world’s most important Romantic poets writing in Arabic during the first half of the twentieth century. A founding member of the Apollo school, he also published widely in the fields of medicine, nutrition, psychology, sociology, and translation.

This multigenerational, genre-crossing work of literary nonfiction sheds new light on Nagui through the eyes of his granddaughter, literary scholar Samia Mehrez. Nagui is best known for his poem al-Atlal (“the Ruins”), which was later sung by legendary Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum. Drawing on a series of family archives, including Nagui’s own published and unpublished writings, Mehrez embarks on a journey through multiple languages, generations, and geographies, as she comes to reconcile with the shadow of her grandfather, who died two years before she was born. Mehrez unpacks many of the myths surrounding Nagui and in doing so, reflects on how he impacted her own career as a literary critic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781649033802
Publisher:	American University in Cairo Press, The
Publication date:	01/21/2025
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Samia Mehrez (Author) is professor emerita of Arabic literature in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations and founder of the Center for Translation Studies at the American Universityin Cairo (2009–2021). She is the author of Egyptian Writers between History and Fiction (AUC Press, 1994) and Egypt's Culture Wars (2008), and the editor of The Literary Atlas of Cairo, The Literary Life of Cairo, and Translating Egypt’s Revolution: The Language of Tahrir (AUC Press, 2010, 2011, 2012).

Eleanor Ellis (Translated by) is an Arabic-English translator. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: “What is Dr. Nagui Doing Here?”
Chapter 2: 1 Hassouna al-Nawawy Street
Chapter 3: All That Remains
Chapter 4: Houma and Souma
Chapter 5: From N. to A.
Chapter 6: Journal de vie
Chapter 7: Ibrahim Nagui Superstar
Chapter 8: My Friend Shakespeare
Chapter 9: The Family Doctor
Chapter 10: Farewell
Notes
Appendix: al-Atlal/The Ruins

Editorial Reviews

Samia Mehrez, with a brief nod to the austere Ibrahim Nagui of record, reveals the passionate, questing, idealist poet-physician in all his human complexity. A lovingly forensic exploration of the grandfather she never knew—and a gift to us, his readers.”—Ahdaf Soueif, author of The Map of Love

"Samia Mehrez shatters the oversized, too-perfect image of her famous poet-physician grandfather, giving us a lesson in how to craft a portrait of a real person with dry humor and clear eyes. Beautifully translated by Eleanor Ellis."—Marcia Lynx Qualey, ArabLit

"This intimate portrait of an iconic Egyptian poet by his granddaughter is a genre-bending text of critical brilliance, combining biography, autobiography, translation studies, textual criticism, and archival documents, as well as delineating a cultural history of twentieth-century Egypt."—Ferial Ghazoul, The American Universityin Cairo

“Contemplating a portrait of her grandfather, Samia Mehrez proceeds to assemble the fragments of his life and in the process to discover her own growing affinities with him. An enchanting and unique foray into interpersonal biography.”—Tarif Khalidi, American University of Beirut

"A wonderful book that represents an important contribution to the work of Samia Mehrez, who has previously published in the fields of literary criticism and translation studies.”—Sonallah Ibrahim, author of Warda

"Nagui’s culminating image is so intimate, so dazzling in its multi-dimensionality that he comes to life in 3-D. The success here is dual, because as one main character unravels before our eyes, so does the other. As Mehrez crosses the final boundary with Nagui, he exits the picture frame."—Jadaliyya

From the Publisher