The Breadth, Depth, Joy and Beauty of Arabic Literature (and the Arabic Alphabet)

(illustrations by Houman Mortazavi)

Arabic literature is so vast and so beautiful, it does not need my support, but I cannot stay silent in the face of public scorn. Labid, Naguib Mahfouz, Nizar Qabbani, Abdul Rahman Munif, Nawal El Saadawi and hundreds of other excellent writers prove Robert Kennedy’s ignorance.

I taught Arabic literature in translation for more than two decades and would like to recommend a few places to start to enjoy the riches of Middle Eastern writing: Night and Horses and the Desert: An Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature, Victims of a Map: A Bilingual Anthology of Arabic Poetry, The Literature of Modern Arabia and An Anthology of Arabic Literature: From the Classical to the Modern. Excellent writers who are currently publishing include Zakaria Tamer, Reem Bassiouney and Raja Alem.

I am so happy to post new essays from The Arabic Alphabet: A Guided Tour – https://alifbatourguide.com/ Michael Beard was my dissertation professor and has remained a dear friend. The breadth of his knowledge is so heartening to me in these troubled times – he knows Persian/ Farsi, Arabic, Italian, Greek, French, Latin and is learning Chinese. In every conversation, every essay he brings in examples of poems, novels and academic essays from every corner of the world. He is the antithesis of small-minded bigots screaming for attention.

And the illustrations by Houman Mortazavi are lovely, some samples of how the page layouts look can be found here: https://alifbatourguide.com/the-arabic-alphabet/book/