1,721,009 research outputs found
Tradurre il Marocco degli Anni di Piombo
No full textThis contribution analyses the novel Ṭāʾir azraq nādir yuḥalliqu maʻī (2013) by the Moroccan author Youssef Fadel (Yūsuf Fādil, b. 1949) from the perspective of its Italian translator. It places this novel within the testimonial literature of the Years of Lead, then explains some techniques that were employed to render the different narrative voices and the dialogues in Italian, and finally illustrates the editorial choices of Italian publishers regarding Moroccan literature written in Arabic and French
A Bedouin in Cairo: Space, Identity, and Humor in al-Fāʿil by Hamdī Abū Julayyil
No full textThis contribution examines al-Fāʿil (The Laborer, 2008; A Dog With No Tail) by Hamdī Abū Julayyil (b. 1967) as an example of internal migration in contemporary Egyptian fiction. The protagonist moves between two distant worlds coexisting in the same country: the Bedouin village in Fayyūm and the megalopolis of Cairo. Moving back and forth, he experiences a double alienation, reflected in the literary representation of space. This novel reelaborates some autobiographical elements, since the author also hails from a Bedouin family and moved to Cairo to work in construction, while pursuing his literary aspirations. Our textual analysis focuses on two main narratives, i.e. construction work and Bedouin history. While staging the migrants’ precarious life, construction work activates the protagonist’s self-discovery. Part of this process is re-telling Bedouin history as a family story of displacements. In doing so, the main character gives migration a collective dimension and employs humor as a survival strategy
Rebellion in the Public and the Private Sphere: Nādī al-sayyārāt by ʿAlāʾ al-Aswānī
No full textOver the past five years, socio-political changes in Egypt have stemmed from and – at the same time – contributed to the emergence of a new sensitivity, which has been expressed in various forms of art such as cinema, graffiti, music and literature. As far as fiction is concerned, various subgenres (diaries, blogs and popular literature) have contributed to a renewal of the genre. This essay looks at ʻAlā’ al-Aswānī’s Nādī al-sayyārāt (Automobile Club, 2013) as an example of the aforementioned new sensitivity or revolutionary perception in fiction. In this recent novel, the author depicts everyday life and inter-class relations at the Cairo Automobile Club during the 1940s, in order to create an allegory of contemporary Egyptian society. Overtly denouncing social injustice and the network of power is certainly not new in al-Aswānī’s oeuvre. However, in Nādī al-sayyārāt, the novelist examines the process of developing a revolutionary spirit and the personal choice of taking action, with all the difficulties that this implies. My analysis focuses on how representations of rebellion in the public and the private spheres are intertwined in the novel. This aspect will be seen especially through two male characters (father and son) and two female ones. The use of time and space as meaningful narrative strategies will also be taken into consideration. Finally, Nādī al-sayyārāt will be compared to al-Aswānī’s earlier production and related to his activity as social commentator, in an attempt to identify any innovations in content and form
The Video as a Canonization Channel for Contemporary Arabic Fiction
Get PDFWith the media transition from the paper to the digital, Arab writers’ interaction on the social media and book-related videos have become a central strategy of promotion. Besides book trailers produced by the publishers and the readers, the international literary prizes produce their own videos. One of the most important examples is the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) which releases videos with English subtitles for the shortlisted authors every year. Moreover, some writers and journalists have started TV programs or YouTube channels recommending books and interviewing their fellow authors. Engaging with literary history, politics of translation, and media studies, this paper discusses the contribution of videos to the contemporary Arabic novel’s canonization: how do the videos make the canon and its mechanisms visible? Which image of the intellectual do they shape globally and locally? Which linguistic varieties do they adopt?
This paper compares two kinds of videos to encompass the global and local scale, with their respective canonizing institutions and mechanisms. On the one hand, it examines how IPAF videos (2012-2019) promote a very recent canon of novels on the global scale through the representation of space, language, and the Arab intellectual. On the other hand, it looks at two book-related TV programs by the Egyptian writers Bilāl Faḍl and ʿUmar Ṭāhir, selecting three episodes (FAḌL 2011, FAḌL 2018, and ṬĀHIR 2018) featuring or devoted to Aḥmad Khālid Tawfīq (1962-2018), a successful author of science-fiction and thrillers. Debating non-canonical writings, these TV programs contribute to redefine the national canon focusing on the reading practices and literary criticism
Ibn Majid
No full textLibro bilingue arabo/italiano per l'infanzia inserito nella collana "I grandi personaggi". Narra la storia del navigatore arabo Ibn Majid con alcuni versi di poesia tratte dalle sue opere. L'opera rientra in un catalogo creato per favorire un dialogo tra i bambini del Mediterraneo e le diverse culture, in collaborazione con l'editore emiratino Kalimat, premiato come Miglior Editore dell’Anno dalla Fiera del libro per ragazzi di Bologna
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