Rhadopis of Nubia Paperback – 8 March 2005

Unlike the two other Mahfouz novels I read, (Miramar and Akhenaten), this is more straight forward and that's the beauty of it.The powerful yet clich'ed metaphor of star crossed lovers, one courtesan, the other a king, the latter squandering away the Empire's wealth to create a palace of love; yes, immidiately similar to Edward the Second (Marlowe). But Mahfouz takes it to a whole different level, peppering it with bits and pieces of analogy from Romeo abd Juliet and other sources.The translator's foreward is very significant as he lets the reader in on the fact that Mahfouz WAS aiming for this and that's why the use of such archaic language, which despite the modest confession is quite deftly rendered in this edition.Even if one takes it by face value, it's a nice read.

No doubt it's a finally crafted piece of literature. How ever I like accurate history as part of Historical fiction and the author combines ancient Egyptian history with Greek History from two very different eras. As allegory it's worth reading but not quite up to Homer. I recommend it for those wanting to sample this Nobel prize winner. Just don't confuse it with historical fiction and ignore the map in the front. It has nothing to do with the story