Category: Intellectuals

Remembering Mourid: 10 in Translation, Online

With thanks to the ever excellent & useful ArabLit for this compilation: On February 14, poet and memoirist Mourid Barghouti died in Amman, Jordan, having spent most of his life in various exiles: Below, a selection from his work available in translation, online. PROSE Excerpt from I Saw Ramallah, with an introduction by Edward W. Said, translated by Ahdaf Soueif It is very hot on the bridge. A drop … Read more Remembering Mourid: 10 in Translation, Online

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Thinking of Abdelwahab Meddeb…

… the great Tunisian poet, writer, essayist & translator who would have turned 75 today. A good friend for several decades, I learned much from him about the literature & culture of the Maghreb and the wider Arab world. (See my essay on Abdelwahab & his work in my Arabia (Not So) Deserta. And wondering why his book The Malady of Islam, which I co-translated & published back in … Read more Thinking of Abdelwahab Meddeb…

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Poet Galal El-Behairy’s ‘Letter from Tora Prison’

via ArabLit: Ahead of the expected verdict for imprisoned Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy, ArabLit — like PEN centers around the world — is sharing a work El-Behairy wrote in prison: El-Behairy was arrested more than three months ago, on March 3, 2018, on charges related to his most recent book of poems, خير نسوان الأرض, The Finest Women on Earth (2018) and lyrics he wrote for Ramy Essam’s song “Balaha.” A campaign against him … Read more Poet Galal El-Behairy’s ‘Letter from Tora Prison’

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Eric Mottram Remembered: poet, professor and cultural firebrand

We are pleased to present the following conference, alongside an exhibition of manuscripts, books and digital material relating to Eric Mottram. Sponsored by the Archives Department at King’s College London. Date: Monday 23 April 2018 Duration: 10.00 to 17.30  Location: Council Room, 2nd floor, Strand Building, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS Master of Ceremonies: Clive Bush PROGRAMME: This event will be filmed by Colin Still from Optic Nerve (www.opticnerve.co.uk). … Read more Eric Mottram Remembered: poet, professor and cultural firebrand

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Juan Goytisolo – Tangier, Havana and the Treasonous Intellectual

Wow! Two days in a row I’m reposting Arab Lit (in English). Today Marcia Lynx Qualey  brings up (& sends us to a dossier on) one of my very favorite Spanish-born Maghrebi-by-choice writers: Juan Goytisolo (5 January 1931 – 4 June 2017), someone I had hoped to eventually meet — something that was unhappily not to be. In my library Goytisolo’s books do not stand on the Spanish Lit … Read more Juan Goytisolo – Tangier, Havana and the Treasonous Intellectual

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Frantz Fanon, on/for his Birthday, 20 July 1925.

Frantz Fanon (Fort de France 1925-Washington 1961) ON NATIONAL CULTURE […] I am ready to concede that on the plane of factual being the past existence of an Aztec civilization does not change anything , very much in the diet of the Mexican peasant of today. I admit that all the proofs of a wonderful Songhai civilization will not change the fact that today the Songhais are underfed and … Read more Frantz Fanon, on/for his Birthday, 20 July 1925.

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More on Bret Stephens, the NYT’s New Hire: from Climate Denial to Racism

New New York Times hire Bret Stephens (cc photo: Christopher Michel) Outraged by the NYT hiring a straight-ahead climate denier (which at this point in the game is exactly as inane as hiring a flat-earthler as resident geography specialist) I posted on this & on our cancelling the NYT because of this a few days ago — oddly enough, this post has attracted more viewers than nearly all other … Read more More on Bret Stephens, the NYT’s New Hire: from Climate Denial to Racism

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