On Publishing Arabic Literature in Translation: Specialists Cite Rising Interest Despite Challenges

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From Publishing Perspectives:

Is there enough discussion in American publishing about Arabic literature in translation? At a seminar in New York, the publishing audience was eager to know more.

One of the biggest takeaways from Wednesday’s (July 11) Seminar on Arabic Literature in Translation was that the publishers, translators, agents and others in the audience are eager for more information on the subject.

. . . .

The discussion ran long as questions from the audience were put to the panelists. Moderator Chip Rossetti, editorial director for the Library of Arabic Literature, began the discussion by saying, “it is rare that Arabic literature gets this kind of venue”—too rare and much needed, it seems, judging by number of hands that went up during the question and answer session.

. . . .

First, there is a large body of Arabic work that’s still undiscovered in translation, and this isn’t necessarily due to a lack of interest. Max Weiss, a translator and associate professor of history and Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, said that interest in Arabic literature tends to follow current events like the attacks of September 11.

This cyclical interest sometimes means that published translations tend to reflect those current events, but not necessarily the broader scope of Arabic writing.

Weiss brought up an example well known in Arabic literary circles to illustrate his point. In 1980, professor and literary critic Edward Said pitched a novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz (who would go on to win the Nobel Prize for literature) to a New York publisher. The publisher responded, according to Said, by saying that Arabic was a “controversial language.”

Weiss said that “Arabic literature became visible in English in ways that reproduced that very premise.”

Without “a kind of canon” of modern Arabic literature in translation, Weiss said, we don’t have a reference point for this body of work beyond this seemingly enduring perception of Arabic as a “controversial language.”

. . . .

From his seat in the audience, Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, asked the panelists about how books are distributed in the Arab world and about issues of censorship.

Alex Elinson, translator and associate professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Hunter College, said that the state of publishing varies from country to country. Based on many conversations with Moroccan writers, Elinson said, those writers feel they have to “go outside the country” in order to see success.

Rossetti agreed, relating his experiences while working as an editor at the American University of Cairo Press. As an author, he said, it’s common that “you write in one country and take [the book] to your publisher in another country.” This strategy addresses both censorship and distribution challenges in the region.

Censorship “varies from country to country,” said Weiss. Even before the revolution in Syria, he said, “writers would often self-publish or publish abroad,” primarily in Beirut, to avoid the censors.

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