{"id":16966,"date":"2021-02-16T06:31:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T11:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=16966"},"modified":"2021-02-16T06:31:10","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T11:31:10","slug":"remembering-mourid-10-in-translation-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/remembering-mourid-10-in-translation-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Mourid: 10 in Translation, Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

With thanks to the ever excellent & useful ArabLit for this compilation:
\nOn February 14, poet and memoirist Mourid Barghouti died in Amman, Jordan, having spent most of his life in various exiles:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Below, a selection from his work available in translation, online.<\/p>\n

PROSE<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Excerpt from I Saw Ramallah<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, with an introduction by Edward W. Said, translated by Ahdaf Soueif<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

It is very hot on the bridge. A drop of sweat slides from my I forehead down to the frame of my spectacles, then the lens. A mist envelops what I see, what I expect, what I remember. The view here shimmers with scenes that span a lifetime; a lifetime spent trying to get here. Here I am, crossing the Jordan River. I hear the creak of the wood under my feet. On my left shoulder a small bag. I walk westward in a normal manner\u2013or rather, a manner that appears normal. Behind me the world, ahead of me my world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe Bridge<\/a>,\u201d from I Was Born There, I Was Born Here<\/em>,<\/strong> translated by Humphrey Davies.<\/p>\n

The clich\u00e9 has it that bridges are symbols of communication, connection, and coexistence. This bridge is a symbol of discrimination, distance, disunion, and the historic distinction between the frightener and the frightened, though sometimes it is hard to be sure who fears the other more. Have the meanings of \u2018bridge\u2019 found in the dictionary been so completely distorted that they are no longer useful for describing this bridge? The Israeli obsession with security makes this bridge a great gap, a chasm with teeth. Everything in Israel is determined by its obsession with security. It is a nation that sees itself as forever victorious, forever frightened, and forever in the right. It has been victorious, and frightened, for sixty years. Always, whether fighting or negotiating, it enjoys the support of the only superpower in today\u2019s world, as well as of all the European states. It also enjoys the secret collusion of twenty debased Arab regimes. It is a state that possesses more than two hundred nuclear warheads, has erected more than six hundred barriers and checkpoints, has built around us a wall 780 kilometers long, detains more than eleven thousand prisoners, controls all borders and crossing points leading to our country by land, sea, and air, and frames its laws with reference to a permanent philosophy that its victories do not change, a philosophy whose core is this mighty state\u2019s fear\u2026 of us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

POETRY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe Obedience of Water,\u201d translated by George Szirtes and Khaled Aljbailli<\/p>\n

Translation by George Szirtes<\/a><\/h3>\n

English version by George Szirtes,<\/em>
\nbased on a literal translation from the Arabic by Khaled Aljbailli<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

How many nights of art, close study, hesitation and sacrifice,
\nat little or great expense, do you need to invent
\nthe simplest of gadgets?
\nAll you need to invent a tyrant is a single
\nbend of the knee.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

No, he\u2019s not a rhino, not a miracle,
\nin fact he may look like you. Or me.
\nDon\u2019t be fooled. Those are not his claws
\nthey are perfectly normal nails like yours.
\nNor are those hooves, no,
\nthey are his size eight, possibly
\nsize nine, shoes.
\nHe\u2019s less heavy than you think. No, not a ton,
\njust the weight of an ordinary man,
\nsay seventy or eighty kilos.
\nIs that his horn? No
\nit\u2019s his smug little, snub little nose and, yes,
\nhe might catch a cold like you and I.
\nHe might even bleed.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

When he takes his seat he doesn\u2019t descend from heaven
\non a cloud, no, he climbs up on our shoulders, yours and mine
\nand sits in the saddle of time dangling his legs,
\ntwo legs not six, if you care to check.
\nHis mirror loves him. He loves his mirror. The love is mutual.
\nHe adores the law. Any house he burns, anyone he kills,
\nany massacre he orders, is done in full accordance with the law.
\nDon\u2019t insult your own intelligence
\nby hoping. Let that flame flicker, die, and unaccountably flicker again
\nwhile he\u2019s in charge.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

He regards even his tantrums as a sign of strength.
\nHe would prefer us to be as water,
\nto see us stagnating at the bottom of the cup.
\nWe must bow when he pours us out,
\nNot allowing a word to escape
\nand yet when we behaved like water as he intended
\nhe raised his hands in mute appeal, astonished to be drowning.<\/p>\n

Listen to Mourid Barghouti read “The Obedience of Water.<\/a>”<\/p>\n

\u201cInterpretations<\/a>,\u201d translated by Radwa Ashour<\/p>\n

\u201cI Have No Problem<\/a>,\u201d translated by Radwa Ashour<\/p>\n

\u201cYou and I<\/a>,\u201d translated by Dina al-Mahdi<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Three Cypress Trees<\/a>,\u201d translated by Radwa Ashour<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Also Fine<\/a>,\u201d translated by Radwa Ashour<\/p>\n

\u201cOld Age<\/a>,\u201d translated by Radwa Ashour<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pillow<\/a>,\u201d translated by Radwa Ashour<\/p>\n

More at Poetry International<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Books available:<\/strong> \u00a0I Saw Ramallah<\/a><\/em> (tr. Soueif), \u00a0I Was Born There, I Was Born Here<\/em><\/a> (tr. Davies), Midnight and Other Poems<\/a><\/em> (tr. Ashour)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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