Abstract
Najib Mahfuz's Tharthara fawq al-Nil, published in 1966, has always been regarded as a “prophetic” novel of Egypt's defeat in the 1967 War. It is basically a satirical novel depicting Egyptian society and its intelligentsia under Nasser's regime in the 60's. It is, however, important to read Tharthara not as a mere political satire, but as a novel of universal nature which narrates artistically a story about the everlasting confrontation between “linear time” and “cyclical time” or between “sense” and “nonsense.”
The whole structure of the novel can be reduced to the confrontation between (linear time-seriousness-sense-Samara) and (cyclical time-jest-nonsense-Anis). Although some critics say that Anis had changed his position and become serious at the end of the story, it is evident from a close reading of the text that he does not really want to do so. Rather, it is better to regard him as a fool or a trickster, and confine his role to that of giving a hint or an implication.
Another important aspect of this novel is its metafictional devices: Samara's scenario of a play and the characters' debate on the drama in Egypt. These devices violate the frame of the novel itself and deconstruct it to make every reading uncertain.
It should, then, be concluded that Tharthara is a novel which lays stress on uncertainty itself and that the “prophecy” of the novel, if there is any, originates from this very ambiguity.
