The Worlding of Arabic Literature: Language, Affect, and the Ethics of Translatability

This book examines the translation of Arabic literature into English, in conversation with contemporary literary scholarship and classical Arabic aesthetic and linguistic paradigms. Case studies reveal practices of translating that activate embodied forms of language and affective modes of reception to position Arabic literature ethically in the world literary system. An intervention in translation theory that attends both to aesthetics and to ethics and politics. Contents Note on Translations and Transliterations Introduction. From Embargo to Boom: The Changing World of Arabic Literature in English 1 Sonics of Lafz. : Translating Arabic Acoustics for Anglophone Ears 2 Vulgarity of Sajʿ: The Scandalous Pleasures of Burton’s The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night 3 Ethics of the Muthannā: Caring for the Other in a Mother Tongue 4 ʿAjamī Politics and Aesthetic Experience: Translating the Body in Pain Conclusion: Beyond Untranslatability Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index About the Author