The Palace Bridge

"Palace Walk" by Naguib Mahfouz is an appropriate book to end a semester's worth of observing the matter of and circumstances surrounding Nobel Prize novels. It makes sense that it took him so long (after having written the book) to receive the award-the translation into English, which made the book more accessible to the West, came at at a point in time where the West was becoming more familiar with the East vis a vis international relations. This provides a good context to discuss the themes of the novel.
Much like Orhan Pamuk's "My Name Is Red," "Palace Walk" presents a similar portrayal of the traditional view of the East. Moreover, he reflects on this perception through multiple characters' perspectives as well, and further he describes the impact that the introduction of modernism and Western values have on the respective characters and how it affects them each differently. Again, with the time the novel was written and the time he received the award in mind, the book is timeless. Compared with the knowledge of the revolutionary history of Egypt in the twentieth century, the binary is again well reflected. Mahfouz successfully bridges the two systems of thought through allegory, a tool he uses in many of his other novels.
The main character and patriarch reflects many old world or third world values. He also is very frequently referred to "Him" or "He,"presented as a god of sorts. He carries very strict authority over his household, yet is revered by friends, and even his family. These qualities all represent the old world views in the area, meanwhile, his wife explores more modern and opposite views through her curiosity, which is narrated to us. Her sons too are split, one a nationalist, and the other a revolutionary.
Overall the novel has tones of change, yet presents a picture of multiple views in a mild, introductory manner. The book is again timeless when compared to current affairs in the middle East.