This bilingual anthology is the first attempt to present a substantial collection of contemporary Arabic poetry in the English language. It acquaints the English-speaking reader with the modern development of one of the world's major poetic traditions, and affords insight into the contemporary cultural situation of the Arab peoples. English translations of Arabic poetry have suffered from aspirations to geographic completeness of representation and excessive concern with the Neo-Classicist school. The present anthology regards poetic quality as the primary criterion of selection and displays an emphatic interest in the poets of free verse. It presents three successive generations--the Syro-Americans, the Egyptian modernist, and the poets of free-verse movement--linked together by a progressive shift from emphasis on form to emphasis on content and form a relatively detached portrayal of the outside world to a concern with the expression of individual experience. Numerous contemporary poets make their first appearance in English, some of them having written pieces specially for this anthology. It is hoped that the bilingual character of the anthology will suit it for use by students of Arabic literature. At the same time, the book is intended for a wider readership with general poetic and literary interests. An important criterion in composing the anthology was the viability of a poem, in its English translation, as a piece of literature as well as the excellence of its Arabic original; if the translators have been successful in applying this criterion, the anthology should afford much aesthetic pleasure. The work should be of considerable interest also to students of comparative literature, as it demonstrates the influence on modern Arab letters of several Western poets, notably Eliot, Yeats, and Pound. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

After centuries of oppressive Ottoman rule, the Arab world began to find new vitality and freedom in the twentieth century. The accompanying resurgence of creative expression is splendidly reflected in this definitive anthology of contemporary Arabic poetry, which spans the modern Arab world from the turn of the century to the present, from the Arab Gulf to Morocco. The editor, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, a renowned expert on modern Arabic literature, presents a through introduction to the works of more than ninety Arab poets. To create the best possible English translation, each selection has been translated first by a bilingual expert and then by an English-language poet, who creatively renders it into idiomatic English.

"Jayyusi provides biographical information on the writers as well as a substantial introduction to the development of modern Arabic fictional genres that considers the central thematic and aesthetic concerns of Arab short story writers and novelists."--Jacket.

NYU Press and NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) announce the establishment of the Library of Arabic Literature (LAL), a new publishing series offering Arabic editions and English translations of the great works of classical Arabic literature. The translations, rendered in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, will be undertaken by renowned scholars of Arabic literature and Islamic studies, and will include a full range of works, including poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, history and historiography. Unprecedented in its scope, LAL will produce authoritative and fiable editions of the Arabic and modern, lucid English translations, introducing the treasures of the Arabic literary heritage to scholars and students, as well as to a general audience of readers.

ANTHOLOGY OF CLASSICAL ARABIC POETRY(From Pre-Islamic Times to Al-Shushtari)Translations, Introduction and Notes by Paul SmithCONTENTS: Classical Arabic Poetry… page 7, The Qasida… 10, The Qit'a… 11, The Ghazal… 12, The Ruba'i… 16, Selected Bibliography… 17: THE POETS (In Order of Appearance) Imra' ul-Qays 17, Zuhair 29, Harith 39, Antara 46, Tarafa 58, Amru 71, Al-A'sha 80, Suhaym 82, Labid 84, Ka'b 96, Khansa 100, Hazrat Ali 102, Ali Ibn Husain 111, Omar Ibn Abi Rabi'a 106, Majnun (Qays ibn al-Mulawwah) 109, Rab'ia of Basra 116, Bashshar 123, Abu Nuwas 126, Abu Tammam 151, Dhu'l-Nun 155, Bayazid Bistami 163, Al-Nuri 163, Junaid 169, Sumnun 171, Mansur al-Hallaj 173, Ibn 'Ata 181, Shibli 183, Al-Mutanabbi 185, Al-Ma'arri 211, Ibn Sina 233, Al-Ghazali 236, Gilani 239, Abu Madyan 243, Suhrawardi 248, Ibn al-Farid 250, Ibn 'Arabi 265, Al-Busiri 278, Al-Shushtari 284. Pages 287.COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'.“It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished. If he comes to Iran I will kiss the fingertips that wrote such a masterpiece inspired by the Creator of all. ” Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran.“Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith.” Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of many mystical works in English into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. “Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz.” Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author of his own poems inspired by Hafiz). Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 80 books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages… including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Omar Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Mahsati and many others, as well as his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and twelve screenplays. www.newhumanitybooksbookheaven.com

This dazzling anthology features the work of seventy-nine outstanding writers from all over the Arab-speaking world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, Syria in the north to Sudan in the south. Edited by Denys Johnson-Davies, called by Edward Said “the leading Arabic-to-English translator of our time,” this treasury of Arab voices is diverse in styles and concerns, but united by a common language. It spans the full history of modern Arabic literature, from its roots in western cultural influence at the end of the nineteenth century to the present-day flowering of Naguib Mahfouz’s literary sons and daughters. Among the Egyptian writers who laid the foundation for the Arabic literary renaissance are the great Tawfik al-Hakim; the short story pioneer Mahmoud Teymour; and Yusuf Idris, who embraced Egypt’s vibrant spoken vernacular. An excerpt from the Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih’s novel Season of Migration to the North, one of the Arab world’s finest, appears alongside the Libyan writer Ibrahim al-Koni’s tales of the Tuaregs of North Africa, the Iraqi writer Mohamed Khudayir’s masterly story “Clocks Like Horses,” and the work of such women writers as Lebanon’s Hanan al-Shaykh and Morocco’s Leila Abouzeid.