THE AGENCY OF THE TRANSLATOR: KHALIL BAYDAS' LITERARY TRANSLATIONS by Spencer ...

214 Pages·2012·1.01 MB·English

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.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ii

Acknowledgments iii

Abstract v

Part One: Contexts 1

Chapter One.
Influence and Translation in Comparative Literature and the
Arabic Nahḍah 2

Chapter Two.
Russian/Arab Cultural Connections through the 19th century 45

Part Two: Texts 86

Chapter Three.
Translating Nationalism: Khalil Baydas’ translation of Pushkin’s Kapitanskaia
Dochka 87

Chapter Four.
Shaqā’ al-Mulūk: educating a new nation 126

Chapter Five.
Kniaz’ Serebriannyi: on translating history, fictional and otherwise 160

Conclusion 195

Bibliography 201

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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 nahḍah, the Arab literary renaissance of the 19th century.
However, these translations are dismissed because they often drift far from their source
texts. This practice, known as al-tarjamah bi-taṣarruf, 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-‘aṣriyyah 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.
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PART ONE: CONTEXTS
2

CHAPTER ONE
Influence and Translation in Comparative Literature and the Arabic Nahḍah

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-nafā’is al-‘aṣriyyah), 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 nahḍah, 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
nahḍah. 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 19th and early 20th 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
nahḍah takes full advantage of the tools and insights of translation theory to explore the
complex translation practices of nahḍawi 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-nafā’is al-‘aṣriyyah 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 (faṣīḥah) Arabic idiom, which does not
create the impression that it has been Arabicized (ta’rīb), and took liberties
(taṣarrafa) 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 alāgah [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’rīb)? A composition
(taṣnīf)? Or what?” (al-hilāl 1895 61)

In 1895, the Egyptian journal al-hilāl (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 19th and early
20th centuries, a period of rapid change known as the literary renaissance, or nahḍah.
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

؟فلؤملاو مجرتملا يصصقلا هجاتن يف اھركذ يتلا – تافصلا هذھ سديب قبطي نأ عاطتسا ىدم يأ ىلإ نكل 3