, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Best 100 Arabic Books (According to the Arab Writers Union): 71-80

This is where you’ll find 1-10 (and an explanation of this project), and here’s 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70. Please do help me out with errors and omissions.

71 Seventh day of Creation by Iraqi writer Abdel Khaliq al-Rikabi

Al-Rikabi’s acclaimed novel Sabi’a Ayaam al-Khalq (Seventh Day of Creation) was excerpted in Banipal 32, translated by Wen-chin Ouyang. I don’t believe the full novel has been translated, or at any rate published.

72 A Fragment of Fear, by Egyptian Tharwat Abaza.

The Egyptian State Information Service translates this title as Some Fear or A Little Bit of Fear. I couldn’t bear either translation, hence mine (which takes liberties). I couldn’t find anything by Abaza in English.

73 The Ace, by Algerian Tahar Wattar.

You won’t find The Ace in English (I don’t think), but you can find Wattar’s The Earthquake translated by Bill/William Granara and available from Saqi Books.

74 The Woman and the Rose, by Moroccan author Mohamed Zafzaf.

This novel of Zafzaf’s apparently has been translated into Spanish, but this novel by “the godfather of Moroccan writers” has not made its way into English.

I did find one story of Zafzaf’s, “The Sacred Tree,” in English translation. It’s in Modern Arabic Short Stories, a Bilingual Reader, which was published by Saqi Books.

75 A Thousand Years of Nostalgia, by Algerian writer Rachid Boudjedra.

The book is in French, although not English. Two of Boudjedra’s other books were excerpted in Banipal 7: Turmoil and The Stubborn Snail.

76 Unknown Grave, by Mauritanian author Ahmed Ould Abdel-Qader.

Nothing that I can find.

77 Murder and Anger, by Iraqi author Muwaffaq Khidr.

Nothing.

78 The Whirlpool, by Syrian Qamar Kilani.

.مفيش حاجة

79 The Blockade, by Bahraini author Fawzia Rasheed.

Nope.

80 There Is a Man in our House, by Egyptian Ihsan Abdul Quddus.

According to David Waldner, at Answer.Com:

Abd al-Quddus wrote more than sixty novels and collections of short stories, many of which were made into films. His works of Arabic literature were characterized by psychological studies of political and social behavior. Among his works translated into English are I Am Free, The Bus Thief, and A Boy’s Best Friend.

I am unable to turn up these translations.