WATANI International
During a reading of his book Chicago, held last week at the Goethe Institut in Alexandria, Alaa’ al-Aswani said he “wished that the hero of his novel, Mohamed Salah, would have been as courageous as Montazer al-Zaidy” who made the headlines when he hurled his shoe at George W. Bush in Baghdad a few weeks ago. “In the world of literature, however,” Aswani remarked, “the author creates his characters to be strong and independent; in the course of the novel they tend to acquire lives and wills of their own, astonishing their creator himself.”
No imitation
Aswani said he reads literature in four languages English, Spanish, French and Arabic.
Commenting on the status of the Arab novel—novel is a relatively recent form of Arabic literature, since it gained its modern form only in the late 19th century—Aswani said that, throughout the last decades, many Arab intellectuals believed that the best intellectual products should emulate western ones. “I assure you that we do not have to imitate all what the West produces,” he stressed. “No doubt the West is more technologically advanced, but this should not imply that it is more developed on the artistic and intellectual levels. Latin American literature is today taking the world by storm. We in the Arab World ought to be more confident and should work to attract Arab readers in the first place. If we can successfully reach our target reader, we definitely have a better chance at world distinction.”
Horrendous image
Instead of transferring an objective image of Arab societies, those in the West who decide on translating Arabic literature sometimes exploit their choice of translations to relay a flawed image of Arabs, Aswani lamented. “I remember that I was once in
Aswani said he believes some Western publishers see the translation of good Arabic literature as a move against
Alaa’ al-Aswani is the Egyptian dentist-turned-novelist who gained world fame through his novels The Yacoubian Building and Chicago.