The titles of ‘The Cairo trilogy’ novels (1956-1957) by Naguib Mahfouz as an object for interpretation

The article studies the novels of The Cairo Trilogy written by the famous Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006, Nobel prize 1988), which is considered one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century and the prime work by the author. The titles of the books Bayn al-Qasrayn, Qasr ash-Shawq, and as-Sukkariyya, which literary mean ‘Between two palaces’, ‘Palace of desire’, and ‘Sugar street’, are taken from the names of actual streets situated in the old quarters of Cairo. The novels follow the life of a Cairene family ‘Abd al-Gawwad living in a historic Cairo district; the titles point at the streets where the family’s houses are located. The principle of entitling the books may seem simple - by location. Regarding titles as a special type of texts, sometimes called frame texts, the article examines the following questions: is it true that the titles of the novels do not point at anything except geography? Do the texts meet the reader’s expectations created by the titles? The article concludes that the locations named in the titles not only highlight the national character of the novels but also prioritize the space of the family’s universe that survives a massive transformation during the first half of the 20th century. The novels show how the social changes ruin all the hierarchical family relations. The first title conveys the idea that the ‘Abd al-Gawwads ‘hang between’ two historic periods; the subsequent books show that the family does not cope very well, and there reigns corruption, illness, and lack of morality. From this point of view, on the one hand, the titles fulfil the reader’s expectations because the characters are shown to prefer ‘forbidden desire’ and alcohol to family life and honest business; on the other hand, there is a contradiction with the expectations created by the third title as this lifestyle does not bring any ‘sugar’ to their lives.