Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

MODERN ARABIC POETRY IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
AN OVERVIEW OF SELECTED ANTHOLOGIES*
By Salih J. Altoma
It is generally recognized that poetry as the primary
genre in Arabic literature has been only
marginally represented in English translations and
until recently has been largely ignored in studies
dealing with Islam or the Arab world. A quick
review of more than 2000 modern poems translated
into English during this century indicates that only a
small fraction (about fifty) of these poems were
published before 1950, and in nearly all cases the
translation was made by native speakers of Arabic.
This is largely because earlier British and American
Orientalists/Arabists tended to focus in their works
on nonliterary aspects of Arabo-Islamic culture and
thus failed to take active part in the translation of
poetry or other Arabic literary genres. The only
notable exception as far as modern poetry is concerned
is Arthur Arberry, whose contributions to the
translation of poetry (classical and modern) include
his pioneering 1950 anthology.
As Arberry pointed out in his preface, the
anthology was a joint attempt in which he and students
from several Arab countries cooperated to produce
a collection representative of Arabic poetry
written from the 1920s to the 1940s. Arberry’s versified
translations may strike readers of poetry as artificial
and ineffective in achieving the poetic quality
of the originals; but by choosing versification, he
raised an important issue regarding the method to be
followed in translating poetry. He obviously felt that
his translations should reflect the poetic styles and
techniques of the original poems. Apart from its stylistic
flaws, Arberry’s anthology serves as a positive
contribution to the translation of modern Arabic,
poetry for two reasons: its being the result of cooperation
between Arabic- and English-speaking translators,
and the broad scope it has maintained in
terms of the poets and the countries represented (45
poets, 11 countries, and the two schools of Arab
poets active in the United States and South
America).
After the publication of Arberry’s anthology
(1950) and until the early 1970s, slow but steady
strides were made in the translation of Arabic poetry,
particularly in the United States. However, the
translations appeared mostly in journals and little
magazines. It should be noted that despite these
strides and the proliferation of Arabic studies in
American and British institutions, no other anthology
comparable to Arberry’s was published. It was
only during the 1970s and 1980s that we begin to
witness the publication of more significant and
diversified anthologies of Arabic poetry in English
translation. They were edited or undertaken not only
in English-speaking countries (mainly the United
Kingdom and United States) but also in several Arab
countries, such as Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon. The
latter fact underlines the prominent role that Arab
translators have continued to assume to ensure that
Arabic poetry reach a wider audience and receive
the recognition it deserves as part of world literature.
Whether working alone or in cooperation with
English-speaking translators, Arab translators (poets,
scholars, and others) have contributed, though not
always successfully, to most of the translations that
are currently available (see, for example, Altoma
13–16).
Apart from the innumerable translated poems
published in periodicals and in studies dealing with
Arabic literature, there are now numerous anthologies,
which represent the poetry of the postwar period.
These can be classified into three categories: (1)
general/Pan-Arab anthologies; (2) region- or country-oriented
anthologies; and (3) anthologies of
poets.
For the purpose of this survey, only representative
anthologies of the first group will be examined
in terms of their scope as well as their method of
translation.
Translation Review 43