September 24, 2004
Publish (in English) or Perish?
The second part of Brian Whitaker's article on publishing in the Arab world is up at the Guardian. (For links and commentary on the first part, go here.) This time, Whitaker tackles the issue of language. Very little foreign fiction is published in the U.S. (only about 3% of the books that come out every year are translations) and only an infinitesimal percentage comes from Arab fiction. Reasons for this, Whitaker says, range from a lack of aggressive marketing by Arab publishers of their authors' translation rights to a shortage of qualified translators (I don't actually buy this last argument, but, let's just move on for now.)
[Peter Ripken, of the German Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature] says that when an Arabic book does come to the attention of a western publisher, it is usually as a result of it having been censored by Arab authorities or spotted by an enthusiastic translator. He also accuses western publishers of imposing their own ideas of what Arab creative writing should be about, selectively translating books that "meet the readers' often prejudiced expectations of the orient".Readers of this blog will probably remember the case of Norma Khouri, whose bestselling hoax preyed on the expectations of the Western reader.
The main problem, however, is that works of Arabic origin are not widely read in the west. Only a few authors manage sales of more than 10,000 in translation, but it is unclear whether this is because readers do not like them or simply do not know about them.I think probably readers don't know if they'll like something until they've had a sampling, and frankly what's being translated for the American market right now is woefully out of date. With all due respect to Nobel winner Mahfouz and the like, I think there's a need for something a little fresher to come out of the Arab world (there are exceptions--Hanan Al-Shaykh comes to mind, for instance). Whitaker himself does mention three younger authors, but one of them (Rabih Alameddine) actually writes in English, not Arabic, so he (Whitaker) isn't really helping the issue. At any rate, it seems likely that the Frankfurt Book Fair will enable a few of the younger authors to get more exposure and perhaps open the European and American markets for them.
posted by Laila Lalami at 12:00 AM
About
bio articles news contact rssMy Events
04.26: LA Times Festival of Books04.30: Claremont, California
09.23-10.04: International Literature Festival Berlin
Search
My book
In hardcover
In Morocco
In Italian
In Portuguese
In french
In dutch
In spanish
Monthly Archives
April 2008March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001