Untranslatable
Translating Pre-Modern Arabic Literature
Dear Arabic literature bibliophiles:
I'm launching a newsletter on pre-modern translation, featuring but not limited to the wonderful Library of Arabic Literature. The initiative is supported and facilitated by my MA thesis advisor at the American University of Beirut, Bilal Orfali.
Arablit has done an interview series focused on the Library of Arabic Literature titles, but what I'm proposing is different. I'll be focused primarily on topics and debates surrounding the ascetics, politics and value of translating pre-modern Arabic Literature, with a look at translators backgrounds and their experience working on the texts.
Some of these topics may be thornier than you think. For example, what is the point of translating pre-modern literature? For some, a return to the past, to turath (heritage), no longer remains relevant. On the other hand, for T.S. Eliot and others, the dead writers are all that we know. Or, as the rhymed Arabic saying goes, ‘your past is your companion.’ قديمك نديمك
For those driven by a utilitarian sort of thinking, we should study the past to the extent that it benefits us today. But is this just a sort of exploitation, a feast of usefulness? Do heritage texts bring any utility to our present anyway?
Above all, the project is guided by an ethos to elevate Arabic literature to an honest and equal footing on the world stage. Slightly condensed and edited interviews will be sent out on my newsletter and published on Arablit bi-monthly on Mondays.
For my inaugural article next Monday September 27, we have a special feature with Michael Cooperson, professor of Near Eastern languages and cultures at UCLA, who received the Sheikh Zayed Award for his Arabic-to-English translation of the Maqamat of al-Hariri (in English: “Impostures”).
I know you're swamped, but I hope you’ll follow along with me for the ride.
I encourage anyone with inquiries or questions to reach me by email: aj.naddaff96@gmail.com or Twitter: @ajnaddaff
Kind regards,
AJ