Bibliotheca Polyglotta

ʕĪsà ʕUbayd, Muqaddima (1921)

Complete text

III-§1.a

فهذه النزعة النفسية ستدفع بالكاتب المصري إلى مذهب الوجدانيات "الأديالسم" وستعرقل سير الأدب العصري في تطويره الجديد ،

fa-hāḏihī ’l-nazʕaẗ al-nafsiyyaẗ sa-tadfaʕ^u bi’l-kātib al-miṣrī ʔilà maḏhab al-wiǧdāniyyāt "al-ʔidyālsm" wa-sa-tuʕarqil sayr al-ʔadab al-ʕaṣrī fī taṭwīri-hī ’l-ǧadīd,

This psychological inclination will push Egyptian writers in the direction of the emotionalist/sentimentalist approach, [i.e.] idealism,¹ and it will obstruct new developments in modern literature.

1. ʕUbayd gives both an Arabic term (maḏhab al-wiǧdāniyyāt) and the foreign word, ‘al-ʔidyālism’.

AR: nazʕaẗ, nafsiyyaẗ, kātib, miṣrī (Miṣr / Miṣriyyaẗ), maḏhab al-wiǧdāniyyāt / ʔidyālsm, ʔadab, ʕaṣrī, taṭwīr, ǧadīd
EN: emotionalist/sentimentalist approach, idealism, modern

فأدب الغد سيُقام في عرفنا على دعامة الملاحظة والتحليل النفسي الرامِيانِ إلى تصوير الحياة كما هي بلا مبالغة أو تقصير ،

fa-ʔadab al-ġad sa-yuqām fī ʕurfi-nā ʕalà daʕāmaẗ al-mulāḥaẓaẗ wa’l-taḥlīl al-nafsī al-rāmyānⁱ ʔilà taṣwīr al-ḥayāẗ ka-mā hiya bi-lā mubālaġaẗ ʔaw taqṣīr,

For, in our opinion, tomorrow’s literature will be erected on the pillars of observation and psychological analysis,² both of which aim to portray life as it is, without exaggeration or reduction,

2. Perhaps, al-taḥlīl al-nafsī should even be rendered as ‘psychoanalysis’ here. Given ʕUbayd’s positivist-scientistic approach, the term may not only mean the study of a person’s character but already an established scientific discipline. Sabry Hafez, however, would not think so: »The emphasis on psychology and psychoanalysis can be understood only in their literary sense and not as a specialized knowledge of the subject. They are meant as an interest in the character’s psyche through artistic and intuitive insight into the personality and its motivation for the action action« – S. Hafez, The Genesis of Arabic Narrative Discourse, Saqi Books, 1993: 293 (n. 86).

AR: ʔadab, ġad^an, mulāḥaẓaẗ, taḥlīl, nafsī, taṣwīr, ḥayāẗ, ka-mā huwa/hiya
EN: observation, psychological, analysis, portray life as it is, without exaggeration or reduction

أيْ الحياة العارية المجرّدة وهو ما يسمّونه مذهب الحقائق "الريالسيم" .

ʔay al-ḥayāẗ al-ʕāriyaẗ al-muǧarradaẗ wa-huwa mā yusammūna-hū maḏhab al-ḥaqāʔiq "al-riyālism".

i.e., life pure and naked, and that is what is called the factualist approach, or realism.³

3. ʕUbayd gives both the foreign term, al-riyālism, and his rendering of the concept as maḏhab al-ḥaqāʔiq.

AR: ḥayāẗ, ʕārⁱⁿ, muǧarrad (taǧrīd), maḏhab al-ḥaqīqaẗ / riyālism
EN: pure and naked, factualist approach, realism

وعلى ذلك فسينشب قتال عنيف بين أصحاب المذهب القديم مذهب الوجدانيات وهم الأكثرية ،

wa-ʕalà ḏālika fa-sa-yanšub^u qitāl ʕanīf bayna ʔaṣḥāb al-maḏhab al-qadīm maḏhab al-wiǧdāniyyāt wa-hum al-ʔakṯariyyaẗ,

Therefore, [we expect that] a tough battle will break out between the followers of the old school, Emotionalism/Sentimentalism, who are the majority,

AR: maḏhab, qadīm, maḏhab al-wiǧdāniyyāt
EN: Emotionalism/Senti¬ment¬alism

وبين أنصار مذهب الحقائق وهم قلائل تسرّبت إلى نفوسهم عوامل جديدة من أثر وقوفهم على فنون الغرب المتعدّدة الحيّة ،

wa-bayna ʔanṣār maḏhab al-ḥaqāʔiq wa-hum qalāʔil tasarrabat ʔilà nufūsi-him ʕawāmil ǧadīdaẗ min ʔaṯar wuqūfi-him ʕalà funūn al-ġarb al-mutaʕaddidaẗ al-ḥayawiyyaẗ,

and the supporters of Factualism, who are [still only] a few in whose hearts/souls new driving forces/incentives have found their way as a result of their acquaintance with the manifold and lively varieties of art in the West.

AR: maḏhab al-ḥaqāʔiq, nufūs (nafs), ʕawāmil (ʕāmil), ǧadīd, ʔaṯar, funūn (fann), ġarb, taʕaddud, ḥayawī (ḥayawiyyaẗ, ḥayāẗ)
EN: art in the West

فعزّ عليهم أنْ يروا جمود آدابهم المحتضرة ، فأحبّوا أنْ ينفخوا فيها روحاً جديدة قوية تحطّم القيود العاتية والأوضاع السقيمة التي رسمتها لنا أجدادنا .

fa-ʕazz^a ʕalay-him ʔan yaraw ǧumūd ʔādāb-him al-muḥtaḍiraẗ, fa-ʔaḥabbū ʔan yanfuḫū fī-hā rūḥ^an ǧadīdaẗ qawiyyaẗ tuḥaṭṭim^u ’l-quyūd al-ʕatiyyaẗ wa’l-ʔawḍāʕ al-saqīmaẗ allatī rasamat-hā la-nā ʔaǧdādu-nā.

This is why it was painful for them to see that their [own] literature was lying in agony and stagnating, and this is why they wanted to breathe new life into it, so strong as to destroy the thick bonds and the boring conditions that our ancestors had designed for us.

AR: ǧumūd, ʔādāb, rūḥ, ǧadīd, quyūd (qayd), saqīm, al-ʔaǧdād
EN: agony, stagnating

فلأيّ الفريقين يكون الانتصار ؟

fa-li-ʔayyⁱ ’l-farīqaynⁱ yakūn^u ’l-intiṣār?

Which of the two groups will possibly be victorious?

AR:…

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