My academic training is in Arabic literature. By literature, I don’t mean written materials alone. I mean instead the manipulation of language in all of its various forms (whether stories, poems, rhymes, etc.) to reach an audience–expressing feelings, communicating experiences, asking questions, offering advice, and so on.
When I first studied in Morocco, I had to reevaluate my own definition of literature. Having grown up in a very bookish anglophone family, it took some adjustment to understand how people can live quite fully without any great use of books in their lives.
Today we have some computer-based exercises.
With your partner, run through the following in any order you choose:
Visit this image, click on it to zoom in, and answer the following questions. If you get stumped, raise your hand for help. ١ –
شو هذا ؟
٢ – Write some of the names, and any other information you find:
اسم:
اسم:
اسم:
اسم:
اسم:
Open SignsInArabicAmended and decode it. If you and your partner are stumped, raise your hand for help.
Dear Barbara Dick and other sci-fi fans:
Check out this page for the sci fi salon that will be kicking off the annual Nour Festival of Arts.
Their announcement features a great piece of art by Murat Palta depicting Star Wars as a traditional miniature painting. The artist also has miniatures of movies such as Kill Bill, The Godfather, and other classics.
بتحكي عربي؟ بتحب الادب؟ عندنا فرصة لمناقشة الادب(العربي خاصةً) بالعربي بأي نوع (المصري، الشامي، المغربي، إلخ..) مرة كل اسبوع يوم الأحد 3:30 – 4:30 مساءً (Eastern Standard Time)
على Google Hangouts اتصل بي للمشاركة احنا بنقرى “الساق على الساق” للشدياق حالياً
Bonjour!
As you may know, I’m helping lead a discussion on GoodReads about The Time of White Horses by Ibrahim Nasrallah. Then my husband recently introduced me to the music of Nolwenn Leroy, a French singer inspired by Breton and Celtic culture. I enjoyed this song so much, that I ended up translating it (video also embedded below). It’s a 15th century song from Brittany, in northwest France.
The mare of Michao
Here’s a shout-out to all my favorite book dealers…
مدبولي Madbouli Bookshop 6 Talaat Harb Sq. – Cairo, Egypt
الأزبكية Al-Azbakeyah open market for used books – Cairo, Egypt
ديوان Diwan bookstores – Cairo, Egypt
دار الشروق Dar El Shorouk 1 Talaat Harb Sq. – Cairo, Egypt
دار الهلال Dar El Hilal 16 Mohamed Ezz El Arab St. – Cairo, Egypt
Librairie Stephan Achrafieh Street – Beirut, Lebanon
دار الساقي Dar Al Saqi, Binayat al-Nur, Sh.
Tarif Khalidi posted this with the intriguing comment that it’s “from an anthology of Arabic literature, ancient & modern, verse & prose, all my own translations, which should be completed in a couple of years or so.” Happy Saturday! ~ m.
Al-Buhturi (d.897)
The Poet and the Wolf
What a night! Dawn at its tail-end Like an inch of gleaming steel, When a sword is drawn from its sheath.
I wrapped myself in its gloom, While wolves were still in slumber, My eyes like a night thief’s, a stranger to sleep, Stirring up the grouse where they squatted, The fox and the viper my only companions.
Today I attended the dissertation defense of my friend Ben Koerber. His book-in-progress is titled:
The Aesthetics and Politics of Rumor in Egyptian Public Culture
Although he identifies many kinds of rumors, they are all kinds of tales that are unauthorized by authorities–they are disturbances in symbolic systems (such as a political order). Rumor is the collapse of fiction and reality. It operates as a site of culture and discourse, much like other literary genres, but it remains anonymous, its authors generally unseen.
YA Arabic Fantasy Fiction I recommend anything by Ahmed Salah Al Mahdi, a bright new talent in the Arab World. I’ve dedicated another post to his work here.
Sonia Nimr’s middle-grade novel طائر الرعد / Thunderbird – See here for Marcia Lynx Qualey’s interview with the author. Qualey’s recommendation of طائر الرعد / Thunderbird in the third Bulaq podcast won me over! Arabic review by Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi here. Available in 2022 in English (from Amazon and other booksellers).
YA Arabic Fantasy Fiction I recommend anything by Ahmed Salah Al Mahdi, a bright new talent in the Arab World. I’ve dedicated another post to his work here.
Sonia Nimr’s middle-grade novel طائر الرعد / Thunderbird – See here for Marcia Lynx Qualey’s interview with the author. Qualey’s recommendation of طائر الرعد / Thunderbird in the third Bulaq podcast won me over! Arabic review by Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi here. Available in 2022 in English (from Amazon and other booksellers).
