«Children of the Alley»: The memory of mankind and the dialogue between cultures

Abstract

This paper focuses on Naguib Mahfouz’s work Children of the Alley and, specifically, on the author’s reflection about the weight of the past. Particularly stresses three core elements of the novel: the poets, their stories and the role of the narrator. Mahfuz emphasizes the role of art in the dialogue between cultures and sheds light on those positions that indicate the evil of the Arab-Islamic world in the fixation on the past or in its religious memory.