Afterword

A true thing, if not a good thing, about afterwords is that no one really ever reads them. The remarkable work that precedes this effort dwarfs significantly anything that I might or certainly will say. This is an important and timely mission taken on by my friend Salar Abdoh. And I cannot emphasize enough how undeserving I am of the designation co-editor. Still, I will wear it proudly, if with a bit of embarrassment.

We Americans are a privileged lot, lucky to live at least with the perception that we are free to write what we wish. To a large and important degree this is quite true; we can write whatever we like. Whether it will find publication or be received in a way as to have impact on the culture, well that is the problem of any culture in any time. What is true is that we can write whatever we like, whether true or not, whether factual or not, whether well-intentioned or not, without fear of incarceration, exile, or worse.

The writers presented here have often put their words on paper knowing what ills might await them. We readers are privileged to find these works and so be given a view of the world, of human experience and interaction, outside our relatively safe bubble. It is simply true, that unlike many European nations, the United States does not have an active industry or culture of translation. One hopes, I hope, that this large effort of Professor Abdoh and the writers represented here will facilitate and generate more interest in not only the literature of the Middle East and North Africa, but literatures of all cultures and languages.