{"id":30136,"date":"2013-10-25T16:06:50","date_gmt":"2013-10-25T12:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=30136"},"modified":"2013-10-25T16:06:51","modified_gmt":"2013-10-25T12:06:51","slug":"matter-translation-aswany-fierce-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/matter-translation-aswany-fierce-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"A Matter of Translation: Aswany Endures Fierce Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"alaa\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Translators are often expected to remain invisible puppeteers, unseen by all except specialists and those good at squinting. The translator who stays in the background is praised: The reader, we\u2019re told, wants to connect with Elias Khoury, not Humphrey Davies; Jurji Zaydan, not Samah Selim. But there are moments when translators feel they must be heard:<\/i><\/p>\n

Back in 2007, translator Marilyn Booth felt the need to clarify a few things<\/a> about her translation of Rajaa Alsanea\u2019s Girls of Riyadh.<\/i><\/p>\n

In this case, Booth\u2019s translation had been significantly reworked by Alsanea and an editor at Penguin \u2014 against Booth\u2019s express wishes. Alsanea apparently wanted to see her story presented in more \u201cuniversal\u201d terms, minimizing its gender politics and its rootedness in Saudi culture.<\/p>\n

Today, another translator, Jonathan Wright, put himself on the public record as being at odds with his author.<\/p>\n

In an open letter posted on his blog<\/a>, Wright goes into painstaking detail about his previous relationship with al-Aswany, how Wright was engaged to translate al-Aswany\u2019s latest novel, and how that translational relationship went sour.<\/p>\n

The reasons for poor author-translator relations here seem murkier than they were with Booth and Alsanea. Al-Aswany apparently decided to shift translators \u201con a whim,\u201d according to Wright, without giving a reason*. That\u2019s fine enough, although Wright still required compensation for the work he\u2019d done. This compensation, according to Wright, has not been forthcoming.<\/p>\n

To justify his decision, al-Aswany argued that Wright made a number of \u201cmistakes\u201d in his in-progress translation of The Automobile Club<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and that the translation was thus \u201cnot up to the desired standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The corrections al-Aswany gave \u2014 in a document provided by Wright<\/a> \u2014 range from the unnecessary to the uncomfortably bad. \u00a0\u201dThat radiance,\u201d according to al-Aswany, is incorrect, and should be \u201cthat glow.\u201d (Um, okay.) \u201cMy wife realized that I needed some time alone\u201d should, according to al-Aswany, be \u201cMy wife understood my need for the solitude.\u201d (?) \u201cLike an antique\u201d should instead be \u201cancient or musty sound.\u201d (Hunh?) The sentence, \u201cI thought hard about the possibilities, eager to reassure myself\u201d is corrected to \u201cI concentrated to get rid of my worries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, Al-Aswany shouldn\u2019t be required to know how to best render his sentences in English: That is the translator\u2019s job. A good editor can help, as can a collaborative relationship with the author, but the author grabbing the wheel is rarely a good thing.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Booth wrote in Al Ahram:<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

In my long experience as a literary translator, I have found the great majority of writers and editors to be deeply respectful of my work and to value true collaboration. Most authors are neither arrogant nor unethical, after all; and most have respect for translators\u2019 unique skills. Many novelists, indeed, are also experienced and sensitive professional literary translators. \u2026 But I fear that in the current haste to find the next \u201cArab bestseller,\u201d the translator\u2019s special and crucial role in creating lasting art will become a victim, to the detriment of writers and readers everywhere.<\/p>\n

Although this case may indeed come down to a whim \u2014 and the desire to bend others to that whim \u2014 the book is also a potential \u201cbest seller.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all would shed tears over The Automobile Club<\/i>, which is not likely to receive much critical applause. \u00a0But here, Wright would probably disagree. From his blog: \u201cWhen the literary elite belittled Aswany\u2019s novels, I always stood up for him, arguing that Egypt and the Arab world in general needed good story-tellers who put plot and character ahead of literary ostentation and obsessive self-analysis.\u201d I might disagree on Wright\u2019s framing of the either\/or, but even if this won\u2019t be \u201clasting art,\u201d Wright\u2019s open letter is chilling.<\/p>\n

It is unclear who is now translating The Automobile Club<\/i> for Knopf, although the publisher is surely continuing with the project. Neither al-Aswany nor the publisher have yet responded to a query about their perspective on events, but a recent profile on al-Aswany in\u00a0Ahram Online<\/i><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 <\/i>which goes to far as to compare\u00a0The Automobile Club\u00a0<\/i>to Mahfouz\u2019s\u00a0Cairo Modern \u2013\u00a0<\/i>states:<\/p>\n

The English translation was delayed due to a disagreement between the novelist and the publisher regarding the nominated translator, but it is now in process of publication. Soon enough, an English speaking audience will get to know Kamel, who is hoping for a better day for Egypt, and Prince Chamel, a member of the royal family who dreaded its rule, and hoped for a revolution that might eradicate the past and allow for a new, better and more dignified future, even for those who feared to challenge Al-Kou.<\/p>\n

From Jonathan Wright:<\/b><\/p>\n

Why translators should give Dr Alaa Al Aswany and Knopf Doubleday a wide berth<\/a><\/p>\n

From Marilyn Booth:<\/b><\/p>\n

From The Literary Saloon –\u00a0<\/i>Booth\u2019s\u00a0TLS letter at bottom\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

From Ahram Weekly –\u00a0<\/i>Further: Where is the translator\u2019s voice?<\/a><\/p>\n

On al-Aswany\u2019s\u00a0Automobile Club:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

From\u00a0Ahram Online:\u00a0<\/i>Al-Aswany weaves threads through Egypt\u2019s revolutions<\/a><\/p>\n

*Originally, this post suggested the author and translator\u2019s diverging politics could be a factor; as the translator points out below, the timeline of events would make that highly unlikely.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M. LYNX-QUALEY: He’s arguably Egypt’s best-known novelist but Alaa Aswany has come under ferocious criticism from his ex-translator <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":30139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,124,80,235,5],"tags":[17885,17928,16573,17923,17141,17926,16746,18291,5460,17924,17927,17922,17925],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30136"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30141,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30136\/revisions\/30141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}