Adrift on the Nile

Adrift on the Nile

Cover of the first US edition
Author	Naguib Mahfouz
Original title	ثرثرة فوق النيل
Translator	Frances Liardet (Doubleday, 1993 ed.)
Genre	Fiction, Literature, Egyptian Literature, Arabic Literature
Publisher	Dar Shorouq, Egypt
Publication date	1966
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	201 pp

Adrift on the Nile (Thartharah fawqa al-Nīl, Arabic: ثرثرة فوق النيل) is a 1966 book by Egyptian author and Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz. The novel was later made into a 1971 film, Chitchat on the Nile. It was translated from Arabic into English in 1993 by Frances Liardet and published by Doubleday.

The book follows Anis Zani who smokes kief every night with a group of friends on a houseboat on the Nile. Anis works as a civil servant but soon finds his life encumbered by his drug use. The book explores nihilism and spiritual emptiness.

Plot summary

The book starts out with Anis Zani, the protagonist, being disciplined by his boss for submitting a blank report. It's revealed that Anis wrote the report under the influence of drugs, which prevented him from realizing his pen was out of ink. Anis and a group of fellow addicts get together every night to smoke keif on a houseboat on the Nile. Samara, a young journalist, visits the group in order to report on them. The tranquility of the group collapses as they begin to argue about topics like love, morality and purpose. The downfall of the group is accelerated when, one night as they are taking a midnight excursion by car, they hit a person and flee the scene.

Awards

• The Nobel Prize in Literature 1988