Comparative(ly) literature
Apparently a company known as Kalima (funded by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi) has selected 100 "Western" titles to be translated into Arabic. The list can be found here.
Glancing over it, the greatest point of interest to me is obviously classical literaure. But take a look at those selections: Galen? Wasn't he already translated into Arabic in the 9th century and used as a medical handbook? Then there's Euripides' Helen and Cyclops, the former being hardly one of his best tragedies and the latter being our only surviving satyr play, which not even classicists really understand. Finally, Sophocles' Progeny: sounds great, but we actually only have three fragments of this play which were discovered two years ago. Is this a joke?
Glancing over it, the greatest point of interest to me is obviously classical literaure. But take a look at those selections: Galen? Wasn't he already translated into Arabic in the 9th century and used as a medical handbook? Then there's Euripides' Helen and Cyclops, the former being hardly one of his best tragedies and the latter being our only surviving satyr play, which not even classicists really understand. Finally, Sophocles' Progeny: sounds great, but we actually only have three fragments of this play which were discovered two years ago. Is this a joke?
posted by to scranton at 6:02 PM
4 Comments:
More proof that the UAE sucks.
By the way, Brian Whittaker's comment that "It's a good start" is ridiculous. Yuk city.
Paradise Regained? Is the assumption here that the bit about losing it would be too great a downer for the Islamic world? Or have they persisted all these years only with the Lost volume, ignorant of the happy ending?
SEC Director Erik Sirri's comment earlier this week: "Hope is a crappy hedge".
Post a Comment
<< Home