After the June 1967 defeat, Naguib Mahfuz stopped writing novels and focused on the short story. He published four collections, using symbols, surrealism, romanticism and realism to explore the political and national context of the time. His first work after "The Talk on the Nile" was the collection "The Tavern of the Black Cat," published in 1969.
Within that collection, the short story "The Madwoman" serves as a symbolic expression of the state of war the country was experiencing at the time, particularly during the war of attrition. During this conflict, Israel carried out attacks against cities and vital centres in the Egyptian interior, including factories, schools and cities along the Suez Canal. Intellectual elites were divided: a majority saw the need to respond to military defeat, while a minority advocated for peace and negotiations with the enemy.
"The Madwoman" describes a battle in a neighbourhood that became etched in memory because all participants either died or were injured. A rumour started by a child triggered the violence: two friends were playing when one fainted from drugs. The child ran to the unconscious boy's brother and told him that his brother had been murdered. Without verifying the information, the brother and his followers armed themselves and killed the alleged culprit, who was innocent of anything. The rumour was disproven when the unconscious boy woke up and continued playing with his friend.
The battle spread until both sides were practically annihilated. When the police commissioner arrived, he found only corpses. His investigation was lengthy but reached no satisfactory conclusion. Eventually he concluded that everything began with the child's rumour. The story suggests that the war was caused by human stupidity at all levels: that of the child, the neighbourhood chief and the entire community that united without questioning.
Although Mahfuz wrote the story in reference to the 1967 war, its meaning transcends that specific conflict. The text reflects how any war can start from the lack of intelligence on one side, which provokes an even more stupid reaction from the other. Mahfuz suggests that if someone in authority had stopped the child to investigate, or if the brother had gone personally to the scene, the war could have been prevented. The narrative concludes that the true meaning of the battle was lost forever, leaving only a memory shrouded in darkness and sadness.