The Subaltern Classes in the Mirror of Comparative Literature: A Case Study of Selected Short Stories by Naguib Mahfouz and Raymond Carver

Abstract
The depiction of the everyday lives of the subaltern and vulnerable classes of society represents one of the key approaches of writers associated with the realist school. This approach exhibits considerable similarity and alignment in the works of Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006)—who, despite his various literary tendencies, is generally recognized as a realist writer—and Raymond Carver (1938–1988), one of the prominent pioneers of dirty realism in America. The present study endeavors to comparatively read and analyze these similarities in selected short stories by the two authors, based on the American approach in comparative literature. The findings reveal a remarkable convergence in the representation of subaltern classes in the works under discussion, with minimalism emerging as the most prominent common formal element—an effective tool for portraying the lives of the marginalized and socially deprived. Furthermore, recourse to drug-induced intoxication constitutes one of the principal thematic commonalities in terms of content. The point of divergence between the two authors lies in their respective perspectives on the subaltern class: Mahfouz, with a predominantly holistic and structuralist vision, situates his characters within a broader historical and social context, enmeshed in complex networks of kinship and neighborhood relations, focusing on the social and historical crises of Egypt; Carver, by contrast, often with a meticulous psychological lens, emphasizes individualism, absolute solitude, psychological helplessness, and the inner crises of the subaltern class within America's consumerist society.