Magazine of Modern
Arab Literature
Publisher / Editor mARgARET OBAnk
Assistant Editor sAmuEL shImOn
Consulting Editors fADhIL AL-AzzAWI mOhAmmED BEnnIs sARgOn BOuLus pETER CLARk mOhAmmAD ALI fARhAT
ERDmuTE hELLER khALED mATTAWA
AmJAD nAssER sAIf AL-RAhBI hILmy sALEm hIshAm shARABI sA’ADI yOussEf
Copy Editor DEBORAh hORTOn
Front Cover mAhI BInEBInE
Drawings kACImI
Address BAnIpAL pO Box 22300 LOnDOn W13 8zQ Tel: +44 (0)20 8568 9747 fax: +44 (0)20 8568 8509 e-mail:banipal@compuserve.com website: www.banipal.com
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Issn: 1461-5363
Banipal takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the arts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the first systematically organised library in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Photographs not accredited have been donated by friends, photographers unknown © All material: Banipal, authors, translators and artists. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
NO 9, Autumn 2000
2 EDITORIAL 3 sA’ADI yOussEf on Mohammed Zefzaf
The horizon of the narrow balcony 4 mOhAmmED zEfzAf: Short stories and novel excerpt
4 Sardines and Oranges 6 The Flower Seller 8 Chapters 1 and 2 of [The Cockerel’s Egg] 16 AnTOn shAmmAs on Hoda Barakat
At eye-level a tiller of (masculine) souls 17 hODA BARAkAT: Excerpts from [The Tiller of Water] 21 BAssAm hAJJAR: Poem 24 fERIAL ghAzOuL on Said al-Kafrawi
As though in a dream: Al-Kafrawi’s narrative universe 26 sAID AL-kAfRAWI: Two short stories
26 Provisions of Sand 29 A Plait for Maryam 31 vénus khOuRy-ghATA: Poem 32 hAnI AL-RAhEB: Excerpt from [The Epidemic] 36 BAssAm k. fRAngIEh Hani al-Raheb and writing in the sands 36 InTERvIEW WITh DEnys JOhnsOn-DAvIEs
Translation is first and foremost an art, not a science 42 shARIf ELmusA: Nine poems 44 mOhAmED mAkhzAngI: Short story – The Pilot 45 sALIm mATAR: Excerpt from novel [Woman of the flask] 51 mOhAmmED BEnTALhA: Four poems 52 JAmEs kIRkup: Ahmed Abodehman’s Saudi childhood 52 AhmED ABODEhmAn: Chapters 2 and 3 from La Ceinture [The Belt] 59 zAkIyA ALI mALALLAh: Two poems 60 AmInA sAïD: Excerpt from poem 61 AshRAf ABOuL yAzID: Four poems 62 TAREk ELTAyEB: Short story – The Train 64 nAsRI hAJJAJ: Six short stories 66 mAhI BInEBInE: Excerpts from novel [Cannibals] 71 sALWA AL-nEImI: Four poems 72 mOhAmmAD ALI fARhAT: Essay – The Prose of Darkness 74 REvIEWs
74 James Kirkup: Flowing with the poem –
Cold Water Shielded: selected poems by Salah Stétié 75 Books in Brief 76 EvEnTs
76 2nd International Casablanca Poetry Festival 77 Yemen hosts Arab-German poetry festival 78 Translation conference in Cairo 79 Literary translation seminars in London and Amman 80 COnTRIBuTORs AnD TRAnsLATORs
BANIPAL is published three times a year – Spring, Summer and Autumn. Translators are acknowledged at the end of each piece. The source language of the work is noted only when it is not Arabic.
FREE ISSUES Nos 1 + 2 with every new subscription. TURN TO page 79 for details banipal Autumn 2000 1
