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<\/p>\nvia ArabLit \/<\/i>Arabic Literature and Translation:<\/p>\n
Which Algerian books have been translated to English, which haven\u2019t, and which should be?<\/i><\/p>\n
By Nadia Ghanem<\/strong><\/p>\n As Algeria approaches another momentous step in its political history with a presidential election that, like Brexit, could happen or not but probably yes rather than not, what better time than to plunge into the fiction of Algerian novelists who have played, like their counterparts everywhere, the role of seers, chroniclers, time travellers, and magicians for the last century. The polyglottic nature of Algerian literature makes its access a little challenging for non-Arabic-French-Tamazight-Derja speakers. But since 1956, about 99 novels, living memoirs, and poetry collections written by Algerian writers have appeared in translation. The below is a list of nearly 100 titles, collected to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n 1956 could be said to have marked the beginning of the Algerian novel in English translation with the appearance of Mouloud Mammeri\u2019s The Sleep of the Just<\/em><\/a>, translated from the French by Len Ortzen. The original in French had appeared in 1952. But I keep a special spot in the \u201cfirst in English translation\u201d race for The Golden Ass<\/em> by Apuleius<\/a>, our top Amazigh scholar and eccentric. The Golden Ass<\/em> was translated from Latin in 1566 by William Adlington. Sarah Ruden\u2019s 2011 translation<\/a> is recommended.<\/p>\n It\u2019s well known that Algerian literature is being written in several languages nationally: in Arabic, French, Tamazight, and Derja. And, in recent years, a small number of Algerian novelists have begun to write directly in English, such as Djaffar Chetouane with his tremendous Donkey Heart Monkey Mind<\/em><\/a>, Noufel Bouzeboudja with Pebble in the River<\/em><\/a>, Belkacem Mezghouchene with Sophia in the White City<\/em>, and the young Iheb Kharab with The Inner Light of Darkness<\/em><\/a>. But writing in English is a new phenomenon, and the English language is still a new addition to Algerian novelists\u2019 quiver of languages.<\/p>\n While the Algerian novel written in Arabic is vastly neglected in translation, and also underrated, among all the languages in which Algerian literature is written, Tamazight is the least-translated. It also gets the least visibility. The work of the Kabyle poet Ahcene Mariche is an exception, thanks to friends who regularly translate his collections into English. As more Tamazight speakers become more comfortable in English, this trend might soon change.<\/p>\n While it is not surprising that translation efforts overwhelmingly favor French, the utter lack of interest in Algerian women\u2019s writing is shocking. I have found only seven Algerian women accessible in English translation: Assia Djebar, Leila Sebbar, Malika Mokeddem, Nina Bouraoui, Leila Marouane, and Maissa Bey \u2014 who write in French \u2014 and then\u00a0Ahlem Mosteghanemi and Zhor Ouanissi,\u00a0who save<\/span>\u00a0the day in Arabic. My search has no doubt missed several titles, but the accurate total is unlikely to double the figure I found, and I am left to gasp at barely 10% of Algerian women\u2019s literary production, as among that available in the English language.<\/p>\n How the novelist Rabia Djelti or the poet Zineb Laouedj have not appeared in translation is unanswerable. These women are of Ahlem Mosteghanemi\u2019s ilk and generation (okay, slightly younger). Missing from this list is also the novelist and psychiatrist Yamina M\u00e9chakra, with her utterly traumatising but phenomenal La grotte <\/em>\u00e9<\/em>clat\u00e9<\/em>e<\/em>, a cornerstone in Algerian literature of the late 70s.<\/p>\n I would have loved to have seen the dramatist H\u2019mida Ayachi in this long list of men, and my favourite go-to novelist Chawki Amari. Tragedy and humour cannot be fully illustrated without these two.<\/p>\n But among those we have, The Mischief\u00a0<\/em>by Assia Djebar<\/a>, the sensuous story of a spoilt young girl who teases a couple during her summer holiday with terrible consequences, must be reissued. Copies of it still float about, but they are shamefully hard to come by.<\/p>\n While novels should not be approached as guides to someone\u2019s reality, anyone interested in 1960s and 1990s Algeria should read The Earthquake\u00a0<\/em>by Tahar Wattar<\/a> and The Star of Algiers\u00a0<\/em>by Aziz Chouaki<\/a>. Yasmina Khadra is by far the most translated into English, and beware even in this language his literary feats remain a game of Russian roulette, but his Inspector Llob series, starting with Morituri<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is exceptionally well constructed and thoroughly entertaining.<\/p>\n I hope someone somewhere is preparing to translate Our Wealth\u00a0<\/em>by young Kaouther Adimi (Nos richesses<\/em>, Seuil, 2017), a fictionalized journal of Edmont Charlot, Algeria\u2019s famous librarian on Algiers\u2019 Hamani Street, who edited, during colonization, the first works of many a writer of Mouloud Feroun and Garcia Lorca\u2019s cut. Fatma n\u2019paraplui<\/em>, a comix written in Derja by Safia Ouarezki, inked by her sister Soumia, with drawings by Mahmoud Benameur, Soumia\u2019s husband, is soon to appear in French and begs to be translated in English.<\/p>\n I also dream to see the short story writer Zakia Allal accessible in English. Allal writes in Arabic, and her collection Nakes Veins,\u00a0<\/em>is deliciously creepy.<\/p>\n The below is provisional. Enjoy it.<\/p>\n 11. 1992- Women of Algiers in Their Apartment<\/em><\/a> by Assia Djebar, transl by Marjolijn de Jager and Clarisse Zimra (CARAF)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe \u2018beginning\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Out of the 99 titles I have so far gleaned, with more titles to unearth \u2014 particularly for the 60s and 70s, which have disclosed no info \u2014 it came as no surprise to discover that the dominant language combination is French-English. Next comes Arabic-English, with Ahlem Mosteghanemi\u2019s and Tahar Watar\u2019s novels. One of Waciny Laredj\u2019s novels was announced in English translation from the Arabic last year, and although I list it here I have not yet seen further announcement or a copy. A lesser-known combination, Italian-English is notable, thanks to Amara Lakhous\u2019 writing. Among these works, a third have appeared since 2010, which means that for the least 63 years (beginning a count down from 1956), one Algerian title plus the beginning of a new book have been translated each year.<\/p>\n\n
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