A Psychological Criticism of Najib Mahfooz Zoghagh almadagh Novel

Zoghagh Almadagh is one of the most prominent novels by Najib Mahfooz in which the events concerning World War II are depicted. In this novel, there are various characters belonging to a variety of social classes. This study aims to offer a literary-psychological analysis of this novel in line with the principles of psychological criticism. It pursues to analyze the characterization varieties of the novel along with their special features and further state the purpose of Najib Mahfooz for creating such personality types. This study is a descriptive-analytic reserach attempting to address these questions: What is the aim of "Naghib Mahfouz" behind the creation of such personality types? What factors are more effective in building and shaping the characters of this novel? How are Hamida’s inner world conflicts formed and what are the consequences? What are the factors leading Hussain Kersha to the superiority sense of revenge and what happens in the end? How are the abnormal and sadistic behaviors of Zita reflected? How do the Salim Alwan’s paranoid behaviors emerge and what effect do they leave on his life? Based on the study findings, Najib Mahfooz has mostly delved into the personality and psychological issues in this novel. He portrays the unpleasant social, economic and cultural situations in the Egyptian society in 1930s and World War II by creating various character types and conveys the problems faced by the people to the readers the reflection of which can be observed within the novel characters. All the characters face an unfavorable destiny rooted in the critical situation of their life period.