On Entering the Sea: The Erotic and Other Poetry of Nizar Qabbani (Poetry Series) Review

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On Entering the Sea: The Erotic and Other Poetry of Nizar Qabbani (Poetry Series) ReviewDon't let the fact that his words have been translated from their original Arabic dissuade you from believing that somehow the work isn't as honest as it should be. Qabbani's work is so powerful it hardly matter shwat language it is in. In short, easily read dollops of wit measured out with a voice of quiet urging, he has given us work that transcends time and politics, while being above-it-all.
"If you know a man
who loves you more than I
guide me to him
so I may first congratulate
hom on his constancy
and later, kill him."
If poetry ever had a Luther Vandross, it was Pablo Neruda. If it ever had a Barry White, it was Qabbani.On Entering the Sea: The Erotic and Other Poetry of Nizar Qabbani (Poetry Series) Overview

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Classical Poems By Arab Women Review

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Classical Poems By Arab Women ReviewAl-Udhari's Classical Poems by Arab Women includes both the original Arabic and his own English translations of poetry as
bold, witty and sensual as the surviving fragments of Sappho. Many of the finest of these poets lived in Arab Andalucia, one of
the most sophisticated and tolerant cultures ever to have existed in Europe. The following lines are taken from poems by
Hafsa, who lived in C12 Granada:
'Ask the lightning when it roarrips the nightcalm if it's seen my man as it makes me think of him.'
'If you were not a star I would be in the dark.'
'I send my earththrilling poems to visit you like a garden that can't go visiting but reaches out with its floating scent.'
Sadly, the poets in this volume are also like Sappho in another respect: very little of their work has survived.
Al-Udhari resists not only the tendency within much of contemporary Islam to deny the creativity of women, but also an equally entrenched tendency to deny the worth of pre-Islamic Arab culture. One of the most powerful poems in this volume was written in the sixth century of the common era, by Jalila bint Murra. Her husband, a tribal king, has been murdered by her brother, and her husband's sister has accused her of complicity in the murder:
'Noble lady, don't be so quick to throw your blame on me, first unhusk the facts, then lash on. (...)
My womenfolk, today time has catastrophed me and encircled me with fire, since crying for a day or two is not like crying for an untomorrowed day. (...)
I am the killer and the killed, may Allah save me from this curse.'
Jalila's courage and depth of perception is remarkable. It is probable that no feud or war -- between families, nations, or cultures - is ever resolved until both parties can bring themselves to say these almost unsayable words: "I am the killer and the killed".Classical Poems By Arab Women OverviewThis is a collection of poetry by Arab women from the Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic era) to the Andalusian period. The poems are excursions into the women's vibrant world whose humanity has been suppressed for centuries by religious and political bigotry; an affirmation of the women's belief in themselves as free spirits who are the equals of men and have the will to lead a life of their own choice. They celebrate the triumph of feminine wit over the arrogance of muscle power. Classical Poems by Arab Women shows, for the first time, the unseen sparks of Arab women's innermost emotions. This is a bilingual edition in which the English version appears facing the Arabic original.

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Treasury of Arabic Love Poems, Quotations & Proverbs: In Arabic and English Review

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Treasury of Arabic Love Poems, Quotations & Proverbs: In Arabic and English ReviewThe scope of poetry is this book's greatest attribute, covering works from 554 to the present, with poets from throughout the Arabic-speaking world. The poetry itself in translation is beautiful; the imagery, metaphors and sense of place and time all uniquely Arabic.
I give it three stars, however, because of the transliteration of the Arabic, and the quotations and proverbs, both of which I felt detracted from the book's strengths. I can understand why the original Arabic would not be included (what would be the point for non-readers (or speakers of Arabic), the need for a transliteration is lost on me. Similarly, the quotations and proverbs, while written about the topic of love, paled in comparison to the poetry.
If you are interested in Arabic poetry, I recommend Nizar Kabbani's _Arabian Love Poems_.Treasury of Arabic Love Poems, Quotations & Proverbs: In Arabic and English OverviewSelections from Adonis, Khalil Gibran, Said Aql and Fadwa Tuqan

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Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems Review

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Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems ReviewBernard Lewis is probably the West's foremost scholar on Islam and the Middle East; I have enjoyed several of his books on these topics. Even so, I was surprised to find a volume of poetry, translated by Lewis, at my bookstore, and I bought it immediately, reasoning that if it remotely approached his other works, it would be well worth the money. I was not disappointed. With little or no knowledge of Near Eastern poetry to my credit, Music of a Distant Drum won me over. I read the entire volume of poems, about 130, in the first evening.
Music of a Distant Drum is divided into four sections of approximately equal lengths, each providing poems, translated by Lewis, from four distinct (although sometimes contemporaneous) cultures: Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hebrew. While I?m qualified to critique neither the poetry nor its translation, I can say that I found them all beautiful. Not knowing what to expect, I was surprised by the brevity of many of the works. The Persians and Arabs in particular seem to be fond of short works in tight stanzas. Too, I found the worldliness and circumspection of the Persians unexpected, even though they, among all four cultures, seemed most fond of metaphor.
If you are a student of the East, I think you might be interested in, and surprised by, the topics these poems: war, love, aging, politics, drinking (!). Some scholars note that drinking (or drunkenness), as a topic in this poetry, is a metaphor for an all-encompassing love of God. Lewis seems to suggest that the drinking references may not be as metaphorical as others maintain it is. Either way, the poetry is agile and moving, and I enjoyed it very much. Poetry lovers may appreciate that some of these works have probably never appeared in print in the West, and I was impressed by the very number of poets represented: there are an astonishing 54 mini-biographies (about a paragraph, each) in the back of the book.
Buy this book and read it. I believe you will find it as powerful and enjoyable as I did.Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems Overview

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Arabian Love Poems: Full Arabic and English Texts (Three Continents Press) Review

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Arabian Love Poems: Full Arabic and English Texts (Three Continents Press) ReviewQabbani was revered by generations of Arabs for his sensual andromantic verse. His work was featured not only in his two dozenvolumes of poetry and in regular contributions to the Arabic-language newspaper Al Hayat, but in lyrics sung by Lebanese and Syrian vocalists who helped popularize his work.
The Syrian poet Youssef Karkoutly said in Damascus today that Qabbani had been "as necessary to our lives as air."
Through a lifetime of writing, Qabbani made women his main theme and inspiration. He earned a reputation for daring with the publication in 1954 of his first volume of verse, "Childhood of a Breast," which broke with the conservative traditions of Arabic literature. But it was not until he resigned from the Syrian diplomatic service in 1966 that Qabbani reached full flower. After the Arab defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he founded the Nizar Qabbani publishing house in London, and his became a powerful and eloquent voice of lament for Arab causes.
Qabbani was a committed Arab nationalist and in recent years his poetry and other writings, including essays and journalism, had become more political. But his writing also often fused themes of romantic and political despair, and it sometimes treated the oppression of women as a metaphor for what he saw as the Arabs' cursed fate. In his poem "Drawing with Words" he wrote: When a man wishes a woman he blows a horn, But when a woman wishes a man she eats the cotton of her pillow.
The Egyptian novelist Mona Helmi said of Qabbani today, "His greatness came from his ability to put into beautiful words not only the ordinary actions between men and women, but also between the ruler and ruled and the oppressor and the oppressed."
Gamal el-Ghitanti, the Egyptian novelist and editor of the weekly News of Literature, praised Qabbani as having been "by any measure a great Arab poet who made a big effort to make his poetry understandable to all people and not only to the elite."
Qabbani published his first poem, "The Brunette had Told Me," in 1944, a year before he graduated with a law degree from the University of Damascus. He held diplomatic posts in Cairo, Ankara, London, Madrid, Beijing and Beirut before resigning, and had lived in London since 1967. But the Syrian capital remained a powerful presence in his poems, most notably in "The Jasmine Scent of Damascus." In his later years, Qabbani's poems included a strong strain of anti-authoritarianism. One couplet in particular -- "O Sultan, my master, if my clothes are ripped and torn it is because your dogs with claws are allowed to tear me" -- is sometimes quoted by Arabs as a kind of wry shorthand for their frustration with life under dictatorship. Still, Qabbani never explicitly criticized his native country or its long-reigning leader, President Hafez al-Assad, and that allowed him to be hailed across Syria as a national hero.Arabian Love Poems: Full Arabic and English Texts (Three Continents Press) Overview

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