What is the author's style in Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz?

Palace Walk is narrated in the past tense in flowing idiomatic English. The original is, of course, in modern Egyptian Arabic. The translators are William M. Hutchinson, a professor of Philosophy and Religion, and Olive E. Kenny, a veteran translator of Arabic literature. The Arabic novel is published in 1956, another chaotic time in the history of Egypt, when the British (and French) again bring war, making this look back particularly relevant. Egyptian society has changed much since World War I, so the