Joyce and Mahfouz: Fragmentation and the Feminine

Abstract

James Joyce once wrote to a friend, “In the particular is contained the universal.” My paper is a cross-cultural thematic analysis of the short stories “Eveline,” by Joyce, and “The Answer is No” by Naguib Mahfouz. The stories, set in Dublin and Cairo, feature female protagonists who are faced with individual decisions which conflict with their sense of gender-duty, tradition, and family..