V. N. ZARYTOVSKAYA Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences Peoples ' Friendship University of Russia Keywords: modern Arabic literature, Naguib Mahfouz, "Children of our Street", banned literature, Islamists The Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) is an outstanding artist who captured the life of his country in the XX century (in the novels "Khan al-Khalili" (1947), " The Cairo trilogy "("Sulasiyyat al-Kahira") (1956-1957), "Chatter over the Nile" ("Sarsara fawka al-Nil) (1966), " Dear Sir "* ("Hadrat al-Mukhtaram") (1975), etc.), a talented screenwriter and thinker who received worldwide recognition. The first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1988), Naguib Mahfouz lived a complex, dramatic life, joining the ranks of those world - famous writers whose novels were banned at various times for various reasons. A fateful role in the writer's life was played by his novel "Children of our Street"1 ("Awlad haritna"**, 1959), which became the pinnacle of his work. For him (including) in 1988, the writer received the Nobel Prize and gained world fame and recognition. Because of it, he was also attacked in his own country, including in the pages of the press. In 1994, a young radical Islamist attacked Mahfouz with a knife - the writer survived, but was no longer able to lead an active lifestyle, communicate with readers, and participate in television and radio programs. After the July 1952 revolution, when patriotic "Free Officers" led by Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power in Egypt, eliminating the monarchy, Mahfouz did not write for several years. Then, probably disillusioned with the results of the revolution, Naguib Mahfouz created a large parable novel "Children of our Street" (more than 500 pages long) in a new genre, in which he tried to cover the spiritual history of mankind in a metaphorical form with its search for God, justice and happiness (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and atheism). "Children of our Street" began to be published in parts already in ... Читать далее