Bibliotheca Polyglotta

ʕĪsà ʕUbayd, Muqaddima (1921)

Complete text

III-§1.a

وإن ميل الكاتب المصري إلى تهذيب الطبيعة وطلائها برواء الجمال النقي غریزي يتجلّى في كلّ سطر يخطّه ، ويكفينا لتعزيز هذه النظرية أنْ نلقي نظرة واحدة على كتّابنا .

wa-ʔinna mayl al-kātib al-miṣrī ʔilà tahḏīb al-ṭabīʕaẗ wa-ṭalāʔi-hā bi-rawāʔ al-ǧamāl al-naqiyy ġarīzī yataǧallà fī kull saṭr yaḫuṭṭu-hū, wa-yakfī-nā li-taʕzīz hāḏihī ’l-naẓariyyaẗ ʔan nulqiya naẓraẗ^an wāḥidaẗ^an ʕalà kuttābi-nā.

The Egyptian writer’s inclination to make nature more refined¹ and paint it with pure beauty and prettiness is like an instinct, it permeates every line he writes. In order to support our argument, it will suffice to have just a short look at one of our authors.

1. tahḏīb – the term is often also used in connection with morals: tahḏīb al-ʔaḫlāq ‘refinement of morals, cultivation of character’; therefore, it would perhaps not be too far-fetched to translate tahḏīb al-ṭabīʕaẗ with ‘making nature more civilized’.

AR: mayl / muyūl, kātib, miṣrī (Miṣr / Miṣriyyaẗ), tahḏīb, ṭabīʕaẗ, ǧamāl, naqiyy (naqāʔ), taʕzīz, naẓariyyaẗ, kātib (kuttāb)
EN: …

ألم يجعل السيّد لطفي المنفلوطي كبير كتّاب اليوم روايته "تحت ظلال الزيزفون" التي حاول تجريدها من "الفونس كار" خيالية شعرية بعد أن قضى بقسوة على شخصية "استیفن" !؟

ʔa-lam yaǧʕal al-sayyid Luṭfī al-Manfalūṭī kabīr kuttāb al-yawm riwāyata-hū “Taḥta ẓilāl al-zayzafūn” allatī ḥāwala taǧrīda-hā min "ʔalfūns kār" ḫayāliyyaẗ^an šiʕriyyaẗ^an baʕda ʔan qaḍà bi-qaswaẗ ʕalà šaḫṣiyyaẗ "ʔistīfan"!?

Has not Mr. Luṭfī al-Manfalūṭī,² the greatest of today’s writers, in an attempt to render Alphonse Karr’s³ novel Sous l’ombre des tilleuls⁴ into Arabic, turned it into a romantic fantasy after he had severely butchered “Stéphen”’s character?!

2. Muṣṭafà Luṭfī al-Manfalūṭī (1877-1924), the foremost exponent of the sentimental, emotionalist trend in early twentieth century Egyptian prose. 3. French author, lived 1808-1890. 4. Under the Shadows of the Acacia Tree (1832), rendered into Arabic as Maǧdūlīn, aw Taḥta Ẓilāl al-Zayzafūn (1917) by Muṣṭafà Luṭfī al-Manfalūṭī.

AR: Manfalūṭī, kātib (kuttāb), al-yawm, riwāyaẗ, Taḥta ẓilāl al-zayzafūn, taǧrīd, ʔAlfūns Kār, ḫayāl
EN: Manfalūṭī, romantic, fantasy

إنّنا لا نؤاخذه على ذلك ، فنحن ممّن يحترمون الرجل ولو كان مذهبه في القصص و نزعته إلى التأليف خلاف مذهبنا و نزعتنا ،

ʔinna-nā lā nuʔāḫiḏu-hū ʕalà ḏālika, fa-naḥnu mimman yaḥtarimūn^a ’l-raǧul wa-law kāna maḏhabu-hū fī ’l-qiṣaṣ wa-nazʕatu-hū ʔilà ’l-taʔlīf ḫilāf^a maḏhabi-nā wa-nazʕati-nā,

We do not criticize/reprimand him for this because we count ourselves among those who respect this man even though his style of storytelling and way of composition differs from ours –

AR: maḏhab, nazʕaẗ, taʔlīf
EN: …

لأنّنا ممّن يدعون إلى تعدُّد الأنواع الأدبية والمذاهب الكتابية لإدخال عناصر الحياة في الأدب الحدیث ،

li-ʔanna-nā mimman yadʕūn^a ʔilà taʕaddud al-ʔanwāʕ al-ʔadabiyyaẗ wa’l-maḏāhib al-kitābiyyaẗ li-ʔidḫāl ʕanāṣir al-ḥayāẗ fī ’l-ʔadab al-ḥadīṯ,

[unlike him] we call for a diversity/multitude of literary genres and writing trends/schools to make modern literature more lively.⁵

5. Lit., to bring the elements of life to modern literature.

AR: taʕaddud, ʔanwāʕ (nawʕ), ʔadab /ʔadabī, maḏāhib (maḏhab), kitābaẗ, ʕanāṣir, ḥayāẗ, ḥadīṯ (ḥadāṯaẗ)
EN: …

إلا أنّ تعديله شخصية الأشخاص وتحريفه الرواية هذا التحريف - ألا يدلّ على خضوعه لحكم مزاجه الشرقي الذي دفعه إلى تصوير الكمال (و) الإنساني والمثل الأعلى للحبّ الروحاني ،

ʔillā ʔanna taʕdīla-hū šaḫṣiyyaẗ^a ’l-ʔašḫāṣ wa-taḥrīfa-hū ’l-riwāyaẗ hāḏā ’l-taḥrīf^a – ʔa-lā yadull^u ʕalà ḫuḍūʕi-hī li-ḥukmⁱ mazāǧi-hī ’l-šarqī allaḏī dafaʕa-hū ʔilà taṣwīr al-kamāl al-ʔinsānī wa’l-maṯal(muṯul?) al-ʔaʕlà lil-ḥubb al-rūḥānī,

But isn’t the fact that he modifies the personality of the characters⁶ and makes heavy changes to the plot an indication of his submission to the regime of his oriental temperament which urges him to depict [nothing but] human [p. vi] perfection and the highest ideals of spiritual love?

6. Or: the main character? – šaḫṣiyyat al-ʔašḫāṣ, lit. the character of the characters.

AR: taʕdīlʔadab, šaḫṣiyyaẗ, ʔašḫāṣ, taḥrīf, riwāyaẗ, dalla (dalāl), ḫuḍūʕ, ḥukm, mazāǧ, šarqī, taṣwīr, kamāl
EN: oriental temperament

ثمّ إنّ مجرّد اختیار المنفلوطي تلخيص رواية "سيرانو دی برجراك" تلك الرواية الخيالية الوجدانية ، ألا يعدّ دليلاً كافياً على وجود نزعة كامنة في الكاتب المصري تجنح به إلى تصوير الجمال النقيّ والكمال السامي البعيدين عن الحقيقة بُعد السماء عن الأرض؟

ṯumma ʔinna muǧarrad^a ’ḫtiyār al-Manfalūṭī talḫīṣ riwāyaẗ "Sīrānū dī Birǧirāk" tilka ’l-riwāyaẗ al-ḫayāliyyaẗ al-wiǧdāniyyaẗ, ʔa-lā yuʕadd^u dalīl^an kāfiy^an ʕalà wuǧūd nazʕaẗ kāminaẗ fī ’l-kātib al-miṣrī taǧnaḥ^u/tuǧniḥ^u bihī ʔilà taṣwīr al-ǧamāl al-naqiyy wa’l-kamāl al-sāmī al-baʕīdayn ʕan il-ḥaqīqaẗ buʕd^a ’l-samāʔ ʕan il-ʔarḍ?

Moreover, should not al-Manfalūṭī’s deliberate choice to [considerably] shorten the plot of Cyrano de Bergerac⁷ – this [highly] idealistic imaginative/romantic story – be regarded as sufficient proof of the presence, in Egyptian authors,⁸ of a hidden inclination to show [nothing but] impeccable beauty and sublime perfection, both of which are as remote from reality as heaven is from earth?

7. Originally a five-act play (publ. 1897) by the French writer Edmond Rostand (1868-1918), ‘Arabized’ by al-Manfalūṭī as al-Šāʕir, aw Sīrānū dī Birǧirāk (al-Qahiraẗ 1921; various later editions). 8. al-kātib al-miṣrī is not preceded by a demonstrative pronoun like hāḏā here. Therefore, we assume that ʕUbayd refers to ‘the Egyptian writer’ in general, not specifically al-Manfalūṭī.

AR: Manfalūṭī, talḫīṣ, riwāyaẗ, Sīrānū dī Birǧirāk, ḫayāl, wiǧdānī (wiǧdāniyyaẗ), dalīl, nazʕaẗ, kātib, miṣrī (Miṣr / Miṣriyyaẗ), taṣwīr, ǧamāl, naqiyy (naqāʔ), kamāl, sāmⁱⁿ, ḥaqīqaẗ
EN: …

Permanent link

http://www2.hf.uio.no/common/apps/permlink/permlink.php?app=polyglotta&context=ctext&uid=33a499e8-f77b-11eb-841a-005056a97067

Choose languages

Choose images, etc.

Choose languages

Choose display