Naguib Mahfouz’s Arabian Nights and Days is a complicated book that I had a difficult time reading. It chronicles the lives of several characters as they question justice, corruption, freedom, and liberty in a small communal city. The biggest issue that I had while reading this book was the number of characters involved. I found myself struggling to keep track of whom I was reading about, through both titles and names, and gradually came to understand the eventual death of characters. The way in which Mahfouz constructs Arabian Nights and Days, having several interconnected tales, was also a challenge for me. The narrative has so many transitions and aspects to it, that it was hard to view the plot as reality or an illusion. The setting of Café Emirs was central throughout the book, however, as the narrative seemed to converge at each meeting point. Many of the characters life decisions affected someone later throughout the book, so it was difficult, but essential to follow along. For the most part, the narrative was disjointed and fragmented.
While reading Arabian Nights and Days, I couldn’t identify a significant overarching theme throughout the book. I did note a few stark parallels through characters and re-occurring ideas. A major parallel that went hand-in-hand with the narrative was this contrast between dreams and realities. This parallel was throughout the book as characters grappled with dreams of genies and the life’s reality of dreariness, injustice, and constant murder. Another parallel that I found was the idea of justice vs. injustice. Much of the book deals with characters figuring out the system of justice. Who essentially defines what is right and wrong? To what extent are we responsible for our actions and wrongdoings? Can a wrongdoing ever be conducted for a noble purpose? Are we inherently weak and incapable of choices? I didn’t quite understand Arabian Nights and Days as a whole, but I did appreciate Mahfouz’s philosophical underlying questions as a reader.
