Pre-Modern Lit

Here is a tiny teaser excerpt from my Work in Progress translation of the epic Sirat al-Amira Dhat al-Himma/سيرة الأميرة ذات الهمة from Arabic to English. (This translation project is funded by a grant from the NEA.) Note: I’m playing with the name of the main character. She was born Fatima, but is known as Dhat al-Himma in Arabic. It’s a mouthful in English, so I’m calling her Valor for now.

As I talk with people about my current translation project, more and more people want to know about Arabic epics. These epics (Arabic: سيرة / sira) are long adventure tales that recount the exploits of a group of heroic characters and villains. Siras draw on historical events, although they are not to be considered conventional accounts of history. Peter Heath* has observed that heroic cycles cover almost all of recorded pre-Islamic and Islamic history:

As I talk with people about my current translation project, more and more people want to know about Arabic epics. These epics (Arabic: سيرة / sira) are long adventure tales that recount the exploits of a group of heroic characters and villains. Siras draw on historical events, although they are not to be considered conventional accounts of history. Peter Heath* has observed that heroic cycles cover almost all of recorded pre-Islamic and Islamic history:

Some Favorite Quotations in Arabic Literature On art, literature, and writing Horses, night, and the desert know me And the sword, the spear, paper, and the pen – a famous line of poetry by the poet Al-Mutanabbi (known for his bragging!) from 10th century Baghdad On education What I want is knowledge of how things really are, so must I not [first] try to find out what knowledge really is?

Melanie A. Magidow Receives NEA Literature Translation Fellowship Fellowship will support the translation into English of The Adventures of Dhat al-Himma #### (the Arabic epic *Sirat al-amira Dhat al-Himma*) Washington, DC — Today, the National Endowment for the Arts announced that Melanie Magidow has been recommended for an NEA Literature Translation Fellowship of $12,500. Magidow is one of 23 recommended fellows for 2017. In total, the NEA is recommending $325,000 in grants this round to support the new translation of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry from 13 different languages into English.

Melanie A. Magidow Receives NEA Literature Translation Fellowship Fellowship will support the translation into English of The Adventures of Dhat al-Himma #### (the Arabic epic *Sirat al-amira Dhat al-Himma*) Washington, DC — Today, the National Endowment for the Arts announced that Melanie Magidow has been recommended for an NEA Literature Translation Fellowship of $12,500. Magidow is one of 23 recommended fellows for 2017. In total, the NEA is recommending $325,000 in grants this round to support the new translation of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry from 13 different languages into English.

I have a new translated short story online at K1N here ! The author, Somaya Ramadan, and I discussed its publication ages ago. It’s nice to have it see the light of day at last. This story comes from a fun volume titled Qalat al-Rawiya / قالت الراوية / What She Said, which consists of stories written by women in Cairo with the purpose of retelling tradition, reimagining canonized stories and telling new stories with traditional flavors and new ideas.

I’m writing in response to mlynxqualey’s recent post. She provides some great suggestions, and I just wanted to add my two cents: Classical Poetry: Marcia limits her list to only materials that are free and available online. I agree with her recommendations of Khalidi’s translations of Al-Buhturi’s “The Poet and the Wolf” and Al-Ma‘arri’s “A Rain Cloud.” Then, instead of Arberry’s translation, I highly recommend Desert Tracings: Six Classic Arabian Odes, translated by Michael A.

I’m opening a space here for connections to more information about languages and cultures that neighbor Arabic: Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew to start. Feel free to send me any recommendations! For Persian culture / art / history, see Caroline Mawer’s blog. For literature in translation, Words without Borders (July 2013) has an issue dedicated to literature post-(1979) revolution.

This post is a place for collecting all the interesting projects I’ve found in the UK and Europe that showcase arts and culture from the Arab world. More to follow… London Mosaic Rooms Algerian Coffee Stores Arab British Centre Nour Festival of Arts (annual) Paris L’Institut du monde arabe Arabic Bookstore La Librairie Avicenne (Near Metro Station Jussieu) From Couronne Metro Station, you can see a street that goes down, and is full of bookshops.