Mahfouz Collection: The Joke of Fate, Radoubis, The Battle of Thebes

Author: (Egypt) Mahfouz
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: The historical trilogy is an important early work by the Nobel Prize-winning author Mahfouz. It is a purely fictional story. The protagonist, Daphne, is a handsome young man who is chosen by the crown prince to become a guard officer at the military academy graduation ceremony. Later, on the hunting ground, Daphne bravely saves the crown prince from the jaws of a fierce lion. In the battle against the Bedouin tribes, he achieves a decisive victory, and the king then betroths his beloved princess to him. Eventually, Daphne ascends the throne. However, what surprises the king is that Daphne is actually the infant he had once led his troops to hunt down decades earlier—the one prophesied to inherit the throne. Fate cruelly mocks the ruler. It is a magnificent love tragedy. The dancer Radoubis and the young king fall deeply in love and cannot help themselves. The priests exploit the king's romantic affair, inciting the people's hatred for the king and causing them to shoot their arrows of resentment into his chest. As they lie dying, this couple parting forever with reluctance and deep affection, the scene is deeply moving. In the end, Radoubis takes poison and follows the king to the afterlife. It is a war novel. The ancient city of Thebes is the capital of the south, and the invaders constantly demand tribute from the southerners, their greed insatiable. Finally, an inevitable war breaks out. The southerners are defeated. However, they endure hardship and humiliation, and ten years later, the Theban battle that shakes the Arab world erupts. From then on, a unified Egypt stands tall by the Nile.