Nagib Mahfuz lettore delle Mille e Una Notte

An author sometimes has an unexplainable preferential relationship with one of his works. The novel Layālī alf laylah seems to occupy a privileged position within Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ’s vast literary production. This brief article tries to offer an explanation for the Egyptian writer’s predilection for a text which apparently seems to be a minor work. In fact, by choosing the "ancient” Maḥfūẓ actually gives himself the possibility to express his political views more freely. By pretending to bethe continuator of One Thousand and One Nights, he can actually tell the truth about power through metaphor.