Having read The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist several times now, and having read (and translated) several other of his short stories, I can confidently claim to be a fan of Emile Habiby. I love his unique perspective on Palestine--that of "one who stayed," according to the title of a documentary film--and I love his writing voice, which is eminently creative and lyric, full of wordplay and allusions and poesy. It's great in Arabic, and it's great in English--at least, in the English of Saeed.
In the English of this novel, however, it's not so great; the translator has been faithful to the "Arabic" feel of the prose, but, alas, too faithful. Reading it feels like reading one of my own translations: stilted, awkward, and all-too-literal. While it gives an accurate impression of the original Arabic novel, it's no fun to read, at least not in an English mindset. Perhaps I'll go read it in Arabic, perhaps not--in any case, I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to read it in English. (Saeed, on the other hand, is not to be missed.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment