Desert Tracings (Wesleyan poetry in translation)

by Michael A. Sells

Michael A. Sells (Translator)

According to legend, the Bedouin tribes of pre-Islamic Arabia held poetry competitions during annual fairs near Mecca. The wining poems called Mu'allaqat, or Hanging Odes, were embroidered in gold on banners and suspended from the walls of Arabia's most sacred shrine, Ka'ba. Desert Tracings is a translation of six classical sixth to eighth century odes. Arabic codes (qasidas) traditionally begin with the relationship of the lover to the loved. Usually set at opening in the beloved's abandoned desert campsite, where the only evidence that remains is tent marks and torrent beds in the sand - "naked tracings,/ worn thin, like inscriptions/ carved in flat stones" - the qasida moves gracefully through the thematic parts, the lover's grief, the quest, and the final acceptance of a world deprived of the beloved. Like the oryx-doe trapped within the unyielding cycles of the desert world.

As Michael Sells writes in his introduction, the qasidahas been overshadowed in the West by other Arabic literature, such as The Arabian Nights, but the qasidais the primary literary tradition in both pre-Islamic and Islamic Arabia. The remarkable richness of language and range of mood captured in theses translations help explain their enduring fascination.

• ISBN10: 0819511587
• ISBN13: 9780819511584
• Publish Date: 31 May 1989
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: University Press of New England
• Imprint: Wesleyan University Press
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 87
• Language: English

Reviews

[clementine]

As you may imagine, I read this book for class, as my range of literary interest hasn't quite extended to pre-Islamic poetry. Indeed, I am not much of a poetry person myself.

However, I found this book really interesting; I thought that Sells' introduction and explanations for each poem were informative, and really showed the difficult choices translators face. The most difficult thing about translating Arabic texts, in particular, is that the language has a very particular cadence and sound to it that can actually contribute to a type of linguistic beauty that is hard to replicate in English. (This is a special challenge with the Qur'an, as much of its beauty and reverence comes from the linguistic aspects of it - but modifying it to have the same sort of feeling in English often takes away from the actual meaning, obscuring the word of God.) Sells has tried to create an equivalent structure and rhythm while preserving the essential meanings of each poem. Although I don't speak Arabic so cannot possibly compare the originals with Sells' translations, I did feel that rhythmically and structurally the poems were very beautiful.

In fact, I liked Sells' introduction and explanations of translating choices much more than the poems themselves - but I am, in general, not a huge poetry person (yet, at least). However, it was remarkable to see the complexity in both structure and language of these ancient poems, especially considering that they come from the period known as "Jahiliyyah", or "ignorance". These poems seem to suggest that "Jahiliyyah" is a bit of a misnomer, in any event.

Definitely a compelling, well-constructed academic and artistic rendering of ancient Arabic poems; not entirely my cup of tea.