Literature in Translation: Teaching Issues and Reading Practices

Translation of Modern and Contemporary Literature in Arabic

218 literature in translation 218 Translation of Modern and Contemporary Literature in Arabic Allen Hibbard In a foreword to the English translation of Elias Khoury’s novel Little Mountain, published in 1989, Edward Said wrote that “of all the major literatures and languages, Arabic is by far the least known and most grudgingly regarded by Europeans and Americans, a huge irony given that all Arabs regard the immense literary and cultural worth of their language as one of their principal contributions to the world” (ix). Just a year later, in a piece entitled “Embargoed Literature,” published in The Nation, Said commented more specifically on the lamentable quality and quantity of works of Arabic literature available in English translation, speculated on some reasons for that state of affairs, and championed recently translated works by the great modern Arab poet Adonis (An Introduction to Arab Poetics), the Coptic Egyptian writer Edwar al-Kharrat (City of Saffron), and the widely acclaimed Lebanese writer Hanan al-Shaykh (Women of Sand and Myrrh). Said’s reflections came just after Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, an event that elevated the stature of Arabic literature and propelled a wave of translation activity. For a long time, Midaq Alley, in Trevor le Gassick’s translation published in 1966, was virtually the only work by Mahfouz available in English; along with Denys Johnson-Davies’s translation of Tayeb Salih’s marvelous novel Season of Migration to the North, published in 1969, it occupied a very lonely spaceontheshelfdevotedtocontemporary Arabicnovelsavailablein English translation. At that time there were fairly limited opportunities for those with no knowledge of Arabic to become acquainted with this rich literary heritage. Fortunately, the scene has changed over the couple of decades since Said made his statements. While Arabic literature remains, to a large extent, ghettoized, translation activity picked up in the 1980s and has flourished in translation of literature in arabic 219 the past twenty years. My aim in these pages is to point to the array of materials available, present some of the specific translation issues Arabic poses, highlight the work of several authors, and suggest ways works of literature translated from Arabic can be incorporated into a variety of courses. We now have access to sufficient literary material in translation to appreciate the vast scope and heterogeneity of modern and contemporary literature in Arabic, though many important, unrecognized works still await translators and publishers. The range of publishers willing to publish works translated from Arabic has expanded beyond pioneers such as the American University of Cairo Press, Three Continents, and Saqi, to include Random House, Doubleday, and Penguin, as well as a number of university presses (particularly Syracuse University Press, University of Arkansas Press, and Columbia University Press). Readers and publishers have shown a keen interest in works by contemporary Arab women writers. And while Egyptian writers, for understandable reasons, continue to be well-represented (with established, well-known writers such as Yusuf Idris, Yahya Haqqi, Nawal al-Saddawi, Sonallah Ibrahim, Radwa Ashour, Ibrahim Abdel Meguid, and many others, as well as Mahfouz), more and more writing from other Arab countrieshasbeentranslated.Forinstance,fromYemenwehaveZaydMutee’ Dammaj’s The Hostage, translated by May Jayyusi and Christopher Tingley (Interlink,1994)andMohammadAbdul-Wali’sTheyDieStrangers,translated by Abubaker Bagader and Deborah Aker (University of Texas Press, 2002). From Libya we have The Bleeding of the Stone, a short novel by Ibrahim alKoni , translated by May Jayyusi and Christopher Tingley (Interlink, 2002), and another novel by al-Koni, Anubis: A Desert Novel, translated by William M. Hutchins (AUC Press, 2005). From Iraq we have Scattered Crumbs, a novellabyMuhsinAl -Ramli,ablytranslatedbyYasmeenS.Hanoosh(University of Arkansas Press, 2003), and Basrayatha: The Story of a City, translated by William M. Hutchins (Verso, 2008). From Syria comes Just Like a River, a shortnovelbyMuhammadKamil-al-Khatib,translatedbyMichelleHartman and Maher Barakat (Interlink, 2003); from Algeria, Memory in the Flesh by Ahlam Mosteghanemi, translated by Baria Ahar and Peter Clark (AUC Press, 2003); and from Morocco, The Last Chapter, by Leila Abouzeid, translated by the author and John Liechety (AUC Press, 2003). What is more, the speed of translation from Arabic has increased. For instance, The Yacoubian Building, the very popular Egyptian novel by Alaa Al Aswany originally published in Arabic in 2002 (Omarat Yaqubian), came 220 literature in translation out in an English translation (by Humphrey T. Davies, AUC Press) two years later, in 2004. (A film based...