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Arabian Love Poems by Nizar Kabbani; Bassam Frangieh; Clementina R.

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Article  in  Middle East Studies Association Bulletin · January 2000

DOI: 10.2307/23064157

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Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)

Arabian Love Poems by Nizar Kabbani; Bassam Frangieh; Clementina R. Brown

Review by: Amira El-Zein
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Winter 2000), pp. 235-236
Published by: Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)
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MESA Bulletin 34 2000 235

At least two
groups of readers will be grateful to Irwin for producing this
volume. lay readers
Literate gain a sustained, nuanced look at a remarkable

body of aesthetic and cultural expression. And for those of us who offer survey
courses on Arab/Islamic culture and history, Irwin has performed a welcome ser
vice. He brings together, in thorough fashion, a range of texts and, in his com

mentary, weaves them together in a concise and deeply knowledgeable manner.

Those who use Night & Horses & the Desert to teach may want to explore the
difficultiesof translation: his own few original selections aside, Irwin relies upon
previous translations. The many prose selections present relatively few problems
but the same cannot be said for the poetry. Irwin's judicious selection notwith
standing, several of the poems require considerable effortindeed.
Matthew Gordon
Miami University(Ohio)

Arabian Love Poems, by Nizar Kabbani. Translations by Bassam Frangieh and

Clementina R. Brown. Full Arabic and English Texts. 225 pages. Boulder, CO:
Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999. 16.95 (Paper) ISBN 0-89410-881-6

Nizar Qabbani (d.1998) is by far the most popular poet in the Arab world, and
the world's best-selling Arab author. His poems have often been put into music

by famous Arab composers; they are still sung today and memorized by tens of
thousands of Arabs, especially by women, who treat his words as a gospel for
liberation. The present translation is a revised edition. This translation in English
is much needed. Although the Arab novel has received growing attention in the
West, especially since the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz received the Nobel
prize, modern Arabic poetry in general remains less known.
The book opens with a preface dealing with the aftermath of the poet's
death. It depicts specifically his death's great impact upon the Arab people, and
shows the tremendous attention that Arab media devoted to it. The preface is
followed by a useful introduction that offers the western reader glimpses into the

poet's personal life, and his political and social commitment. It hints at Kabbani's

diplomatic life, and reminds us of the intrinsicrole that Beirut played in his life
and writing. Indeed, the poet settled down in the Lebanese capital in 1966,
where he established a publishing house dedicated to his own books. It is in Bei
rut that he devoted himself to writing poetry, and it is there that he lost his be
loved wife, Balqis, who died when a building collapsed during the Lebanese Civil
War. The translation has three parts: The first contains a selection of poems
from the Book of Love, the second is composed of excerpts from One Hundred
Love Letters', and the last, entitled Other Poems, offers some poems which link
love to revolution, and to social and political issues.
Arabian Love Poems succeeds in rendering into English the beautiful po
etical verse of Qabbani, which freed the Arabic language from its bonds by put
ting it back into the stream of everyday life. It gives glimpses of the alchemical
power of poetry, capable of reviving the language, and of the almost mystical
transparence of love as expressed in the Arabic voice. Nevertheless, a careful
comparison with the Arabic text shows flaws. First, the translators have deliber
ately decided to skip one or two lines, or sometimes a whole paragraph, from the

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 236 MESA Bulletin 34 2000

Arabic text, which gives the impression of summation rather than translation.

Second, the translators deleted most repetitions in the Arabic text, which renders
the English version rather dry, and lacking the internal rhythm of the Arabic
verse. Third, some terms are simply translated inaccurately, for example translat

ing "at tut" as cherry and not mulberry,or translating "laylat al-qadr" (the night
of Power) as a sign from heaven! These errors produce a vague and empty Eng
lish text devoid of any trace of Arabic heritage and of the specificity of Arabic
background. Fourth, I would have liked more balance in the distribution of the
poems. The third part—the shortest—deals with the most interesting aspect of
Qabbani's poetry, that is, love as a power of change and as a rebellion. The
reader comes away from this volume with the sense that the poet emphasized
solely the physical beauties of women, while his conception of love was much
richer. More poems in this last vein could have given the reader a holistic idea of
this great Arab poet who, in many of his interviews, refused to be imprisoned in
the geography of women's bodies, or to be labeled "sha'ir al mar'ah" (the poet of

women).
Amira El-Zein
Georgetown University

Anatolia Junction: A Journey Into Hidden Turkey, by Fred Reed. 320

pages, maps, notes, index. Burnaby, B. C.: Talonbooks, 1999. $19.95 (Paper)
isbn 0-88922-426-9

Continuing on with his series of inquisitive travelogues, of which Persian Post

cards and Sa/onica Terminus are the first two books, Fred Reed's current addi

tion, Anatolia Junction, takes his reader on a journey to uncover what he terms
the "Hidden Turkey." The "Hidden Turkey" that Reed wants to unearth is the Is
lamic identity that once played such an important role in the lives of the Turks,
but which has been suppressed since the founding of the Turkish Republic in
1923. Reed's quest in this work is to ascertain whether or not the Westemizaton

supported by Kemal Ataturk has succeeded in its mission "to destroy Islam as a
vital, unifying force, as a social cement of unmatched adhesive power, and as a

political potentiality" (p. 20). In search for an answer to this inquiry, Reed de
cides to retrace the footsteps of the Kurdish mystic Said Nursi. Starting at an
empty grave in Urfa, Reed treks around much of southeastern Anatolia,
acquainting his readers with members of various Islamic groups along the way.
Reed focuses mainly upon the Nur movement, which is based upon the teachings
of Said Nursi. However, Reed does not spend all of his time gallivanting around
southeastern Turkey. At various points during his narrative he takes his reader to
Istanbul. He uses Istanbul as a way to punctuate the inherent tension that exists
between a secular state and the rising influence of the Islamic movements that
are threatening the sacred tenets of Kemalism.
Even though writing about the impact of Islam in Turkey may seem like a
rather sensitive issue to tackle, one might expect that since Reed is a Canadian
journalist he would be able to maintain a high degree of objectivity while cover
ing his subject. Disappointingly, this is not the case. Reed is proud to refer to
himself as an "adopted Quebecois" (Sa/onica Terminus, p. 227), and as such he

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