From the Egypt Independent: The title of Bensalem Himmich’s 2008 novel, “Haza al-Andalusi!” (“This Andalusian!”), is as subdued in Arabic as it is attention-grabbing in English. In translation, it becomes “A […]
When I saw that Fadi Azzam’s Sarmada, trans. Adam Talib, had been reviewed recently in The National (“Heady stuff, but not for everyone“), I thought: Hunh. How did this book […]
From my review in the Egypt Independent: In her debut novel, British-Palestinian author Selma Dabbagh has set herself a very difficult task. “Out of It,” published by Bloomsbury UK, is […]
New in Al Masry Al Youm, a review of Khairy Shalaby’s The Hashish Waiter, trans. Adam Talib and published by AUC Press this year. For those interested, last month we also ran a Q&A with Talib.
Interested in the meditations of homicidal religious men revolting against wealth redistribution and threatening retribution? Tahir Wattar’s The Earthquake might be for you.
My review of Mona Prince’s So You May See has made its way to the Al Masry Al Youm culture pages:
A recently published “Global Translation Initiative Study,” conducted by Dalkey Press, surveyed Anglo bookstores, universities, publishers, media, and translators about attitudes toward translated literature.
Unfortunately, although I have read The Time Travels of the Man Who Sold Pickles and Sweets (and may, who knows, re-read it along with the Arabic), I cannot enthuse about it or claim that I dashed with delight through the prose.
Unfortunately, extra production time has not meant a smooth English version of this compelling and complex novel. The translation has too many strangely turned-out sentences, which mimic the Arabic but fail to clearly express the essence of the prose.
