Mahfouz Dies

Just heard that Naguib (sp?) Mahfouz died recently. Mahfouz was an important writer from Egypt. The only middle east writer I know of who had a substantial following in the west. I'm not too familiar with his work, having read only one novel, the title of which escapes me. I remember liking it. Mahfouz struck me as a good story teller and the book was a window onto a culture and way of life that is very foreign to a westerner. Writers are probably the only people in the middle east who can provide us in the west with a veiw of those people that is human and honest. They offer the only alternative to news, from middle eastern or western outlets. I remember thinking I'd like to look at some more of Mahfouz's work. That was many years ago. His work was prodigious. 33 novels, 13 anthologies, several plays, and 30 screenplays. Of his novels, people generally cite The Cairo Trilogy as the pinnacle of his work; Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street. If memory serves, Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature within the last decade. At any rate, his voluminous output stands as a reminder to me of how important it is to always be writing, if we would be writers.