The secret organization

"How many things are worthy of attracting attention, if only we were not immersed in passing matters!" This book is considered one of the most important and prominent collections of Naguib Mahfouz's stories, characterized by depth of meaning and richness of intellectual and philosophical visions. It was written during the 1980s; a time when the country was bubbling with various intellectual and political currents, in addition to being under the yoke of economic openness. His stories expressed this overall scene, but in a unique symbolic form that Mahfouz mastered professionally; this is especially evident in the story "The Secret Organization," which gave the collection its title. It tells of a man who decided to join a secret organization, hoping to achieve freedom and justice for society. Through this, we learn about three hierarchical families of the organization, each with its own style of work. As for the story "The Survival of the Fittest," it narrates the story of a house consisting of three floors and a basement, where the owner lives on the second floor and rents out the rest. The tenants compete to control the house, but who will ultimately prevail? Alongside these two stories, the book includes other stories filled with symbolism about that period.