A recent article in The Arab Weekly suggests the translation of literature can bridge the civilisation gap between cultures, and considers the vital role that translators play in this process.
The Arab Weekly talked to Hussein Mahmoud Hamouda, professor of Italian literature and language at the College of Arts of Helwan University in Egypt, and dean of the School of Linguistics and Translation at Badr University in Cairo.
Hussein Mahmoud publishes scholarly papers in Arabic and Italian, and believes that translation can be used an essential tool which encourages cultural interaction, discourse and understanding between different countries.
He states that through the translation of literature “one nation can form a better mental image of another nation. Translation is like immigration but through literature… It is physically impossible for Naguib Mahfouz to sit down with Lorca or Marquez or Tolstoy and agree on the universal human values they could treat in their works.” But through translation of their works they can be brought “together on the same library shelf and they do not fight each other or try to eliminate one another”.
By translating these literary works, Hussein Mahmoud believes he offers the opportunity for readers to gain empathic insight into historical, and contemporary, matters which would otherwise be lost in translation. One culture can appreciate another, and respond to questions or issues. He claims that “a single literary work from a foreign culture does a better job than the best official embassies and cultural missions”.
Hussein Mahmoud recently published a book with the title ‘Naguib Mahfouz’. Mahfouz was winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for literature in 1998 and Mahmoud believes that this was a critical turning point for Arabic translations. He said that “before his [Mahfouz] Nobel Prize triumph [in 1988], only five literary works had been translated to Italian. After his win, however, hundreds of books by authors from different eras have been translated” which has opened the flood gates “for Arabic literature to take its rightful place in the world”.
When asked by The Arab Weekly how he rates the presence of Arabic literature in the West today, Mahmoud suggests that there has been a recent surge in translations. He claims this is due in part to the West’s increased interest in Arabic literary production and intellectual output in general following “the recent immigration waves from Arab countries and Arab writers garnering several distinguished international prizes”.
Mahmoud has been translating literature from the Arab language into Italian for over 35 years and selects works to translate that he believes will have an impact upon society. He states “I translate what I like. I translate what I am commissioned to translate. I translate what I see useful from a scholarly point of view. I translate what I think is important to translate. I translate what other people see important to translate. I translate poetry because I love poetry and I translate for the sheer pleasure of language.”
