Mirrors

By Naguib Mahfouz

Mirrors consists of a series of vignettes of characters from a writer’s life. Through each vignette—whether of a lifelong friend, a sometime adversary, or a childhood sweetheart—not only is that one character described but light is thrown on other characters, as well as on the narrator himself, who we come to know through the mirrors of his world of acquaintances. Mirrors also reflects the recent history of Egypt, its political movements, its leaders, its wars, and its peace.