Midaqqsmogan is a story of the life of the people in the Midaq Alley. We are in a poor neighbourhood in Cairo in the period just before the end of the second World War. The narration will remind many Faroese readers of William Heinesen and those who read world literature will think of authors like Dickens, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Halldór Laxness. At times the story is humorous, with hints of sarcasm but the author never loses the deepfelt compassion with his characters; and this is what makes the descriptions of them so uncommonly pertinent.  

Naquib Mahfouz takes us into a world where the joy of life and dejection wrestle each other. A world with an unfair dispersal of luck. Where desires and lusts abound and fraternize with the devilish dreams that are found in us all - here manifested by the dreams of seperating oneself from the poverty of the alley.