KHALIL BAYDAS' LITERARY TRANSLATIONS by Spencer Dan
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THE AGENCY OF THE TRANSLATOR: KHALIL BAYDAS’ LITERARY TRANSLATIONS by Spencer Dan Scoville A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Near Eastern Studies) in the University of Michigan 2012 Doctoral Committee: Professor Anton Shammas, Chair Professor Alexander Knysh Associate Professor Carol Bardenstein Associate Professor Olga Maiorova Dedicated to Karina and William. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Portions of my research for this dissertation were funded through the generous support of the Palestinian American Research Council. I am also grateful to the Sweetland Writing Center at the University of Michigan, at which I participated in a summer dissertation writing seminar. I would like to thank the members of my committee for their support, insight, and patience throughout this process. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ii Acknowledgments iii Abstract v Part One: Contexts 1 Chapter One. Influence and Translation in Comparative Literature and the Arabic Nah ḍah 2 Chapter Two. Russian/Arab Cultural Connections through the 19 th century 45 Part Two: Texts 86 Chapter Three. Translating Nationalism: Khalil Baydas’ translation of Pushkin’s Kapitanskaia Dochka 87 Chapter Four. Shaq ā’ al-Mul ūk: educating a new nation 126 Chapter Five. Kniaz’ Serebriannyi : on translating history, fictional and otherwise 160 Conclusion 195 Bibliography 201 iv ABSTRACT The Agency of the Translator: Khalil Baydas’ literary translations by Spencer Dan Scoville Chair: Anton Shammas This dissertation examines the translation practice of Khalil Baydas (1875-1949), Palestinian writer, translator, and journalist. Baydas translated dozens of novels and short stories from Russian into Arabic. Literary translation made up a large part of Arabic literature published during the nah ḍah , the Arab literary renaissance of the 19 th century. However, these translations are dismissed because they often drift far from their source texts. This practice, known as al-tarjamah bi-ta ṣarruf , acknowledges the alterations that the translator makes while translating. Using the translation theory of Lawrence Venuti, this dissertation works to read the space between the translation and the translated text in a new way. Rather than comparing the two texts to measure the fidelity of the translation, this dissertation focuses on the choices that Baydas makes as a translator. In each text considered, we see distinct patterns in the changes that Baydas makes to the source text. To contextualize these decisions, I pair each translation discussed with a selection of articles from Baydas’ journal al-nafa’is al-‘asriyyah that treat those topics that shape his decisions as a translator. I pair close readings of three of Baydas’ novel-length translations with selections from the nonfiction articles from his literary journal al-nafa’is al-‘a ṣriyyah that contextualize the decisions that Baydas makes in each of his translations. I pair my reading of Baydas’ translation of Alexander Pushkin’s Captain’s Daughter with the articles he published on national identity, a complicated question for Arabs living in the Ottoman Empire. Next, I read the alterations that Baydas makes in Marie Corelli’s novel Temporal Power together with the articles he published on education in al-nafa’is. Finally, I discuss Baydas’ translation of Aleksei Tolstoy’s Prince Serebrianiy . Using Georg Lukacs’ theories of the relationship between historical fiction and national identity, I examine the ways in which Baydas manipulates history in his fiction and nonfiction. In each case, the connections between Baydas’ alterations to his source texts and the nonfiction articles that he publishes show how deliberate and disciplined his translation practice was, opening the door for a new consideration of the place of translation in the development of modern Arabic literature. vi PART ONE: CONTEXTS 2 CHAPTER ONE Influence and Translation in Comparative Literature and the Arabic Nah ḍah The aim of this dissertation is twofold—to reexamine the role of translated literature in the development of modern Arabic literature, and to begin an exploration of Russian/Arab literary relations in the years leading up to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. It is the first critical exploration of the Russian-Arab cultural exchange that took place in the Levant in the years leading up to World War One. This dissertation builds on the available historical accounts of Russian activity in the region to begin a critical exploration of the literary texts and trends that came out of connections between Arab intellectuals and Russian culture. These texts include translations of Russian literature, translations of British and French literature (translated from Russian translations), and also a significant body of original poetry, fiction, and non-fiction—primarily essays, summaries of international news, and profiles of important individuals from Russian history—that also comes out of these cultural contacts. As a preliminary step into reintegrating this piece of Arabic literary history into the larger historiography, this dissertation focuses on the work of Khalil Baydas (1874- 1949), one of the earliest Arab translators to work extensively with Russian sources. A native of Nazareth, Baydas studied and taught in the schools operated by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), then went on to have a broad impact on Arabic literature as a translator, journal editor (he owned and edited an early Palestinian literary 3 journal, al-naf ā’is al-‘a ṣriyyah ), and public intellectual. He first published his journal out of Haifa, but transferred its offices to Jerusalem when he accepted a position on a local council in that city. In this dissertation, I have chosen to foreground his work as a translator in order to highlight the connections between his translation practice and the issues and concerns of the nah ḍah , or Arab literary renaissance. Focusing on Baydas’ translations also provides the opportunity to undertake the second major task of this dissertation—the reappraisal of literary translation during the nah ḍah . Literary histories of the period have an ambivalent attitude towards translation— while it is recognized as an important catalyst for the rapid developments that took place in Arabic literature during the 19 th and early 20 th centuries, both Arab and Western critics dismiss it as being less literary than the original works that were produced later. 1 Consequently, very little scholarly work done on the translated texts produced during the nah ḍah takes full advantage of the tools and insights of translation theory to explore the complex translation practices of nah ḍawi translators. 2 The close readings of Baydas’ translations and translation practices at the heart of this dissertation are a first step in uncovering the wealth of information available to us in these neglected translations. In each case, the translated text provides extra insight into the issues that were filling the pages of al-naf ā’is al-‘a ṣriyyah and the many other similar journals that defined the Arabic literary scene in the years leading up to World War One. * * * * * * * * * * 1 See, for example, the treatment of translated literature in the work of ‘abd al-Muhsin Taha Badr, Matti Moosa, and Pierre Cachia, to name a few. 2 Recent literary scholarship by professors Samah Selim and Shaden Tageldin represent notable exceptions to this trend, and have begun to lay the foundation for future work in this field. Their work will be discussed at length in the chapters to follow. 4 “If a person Arabicized ( ‘arraba ) a European novel, carrying across ( naqala ) its meanings into an eloquent and impeccable ( fa ṣīḥah ) Arabic idiom, which does not create the impression that it has been Arabicized (ta’r īb), and took liberties (ta ṣarrafa ) with the novel as he saw fit, but left the historical events and the proper nouns unchanged (for Arabic names if used in such novels are like a patch made of al āgah [traditional Egyptian striped cloth] in a garment made of taffeta), in short, if he read a European ( ifranjiyyah ) novel and adapted it, and wrote it down to the best of his linguistic abilities, using Arabic proverbs, spicing it up with verse, and using the idioms of the Arabs and their modes of expression, then what should his work be called—An Arabicization ( ta’r īb)? A composition (ta ṣnīf)? Or what?” ( al-hil āl 1895 61) In 1895, the Egyptian journal al-hil āl (1892-present) printed the above letter, from a young Palestinian student, Khalil Baydas (1874?-1949). The letter deals with one of the central questions of the day, the translation of European literature, and is particularly rich in the way that it invokes the many nuances of translation in the colonial Arabic context. It is also the earliest evidence of Baydas’ involvement in theorizing literary translation, the work to which he would define his entire career. Over the course of his life, Baydas translated dozens of pieces of Russian literature into Arabic. Evaluations of his literary legacy are uneven—while Baydas is respected for the literary works he made available through his translations, he is also discounted as one whose literary skills never quite matched his literary ideals. This double-speak reflects the common discourse of literary historians on Arabic translation through the 19 th and early 20 th centuries, a period of rapid change known as the literary renaissance, or nah ḍah . Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Asad scarcely finishes praising Baydas’ insights into the translation process when he begins criticizing Baydas’ actual translations, asking, “But to what degree was Baydas able to embody these characteristics that he described in his translations and original literary work?” 3 (57-58). The concern at the apparent disparity between Baydas’ theoretical sensitivities and his actual translation practice reflects the 3 ! إ أي ى اع أن س ھ ه ا ت – ا * ذ/(ھ .* -), ا +* ا %()' وا %$ #؟ 5 concerns of textual fidelity and accuracy so common to evaluations of translations before the rise of translation studies as a discipline in the past 40 years.