#elliott colla

[roughghosts]

Patience is life: Gold Dust by Ibrahim al-Koni

“We always say that the Mahri is the mirror of his rider. If you want to stare into the rider and see what lies hidden within, look to his mount, his thoroughbred. Now that I look at you more closely, I can see that you’re a young man who’s got everything. Whoever owns a Mahri like this piebald will never complain for want of noble values. You’ve honored our homes, O noble youth descended from…

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[arablit]

Translation and Solidarity in Times of Imperial Mass Violence

Translation and Solidarity in Times of Imperial Mass Violence Between Elliott Colla and Yasmeen Hanoosh In this “BETWEEN TWO ARABIC TRANSLATORS” conversation, Yasmeen Hanoosh and Elliott Colla look into two dimensions of translation, which Colla calls the solidaristic and the hegemonic, and the particular role translation has played in the US military. Yasmeen Hanoosh: Let’s start from the…

Translation and Solidarity in Times of Imperial Mass Violence

[arablit]

Part One: Emile Habiby's 'The Six-Day Sextet'

This work, by the towering Palestinian author Emily Habiby (1922-1996), was translated by Elliott Colla and a few of his students; it has been made available open access. Over the next six weeks, we will be publishing the sextets here at ArabLit. From The Six-Day Sextet By Emile Habiby Translated by Kevin Chao, Elliott Colla, Fouad Saleh, Molly Simio, Andrew Slater, and Uma Mencia…

Part One: Emile Habiby's 'The Six-Day Sextet'

[ukdamo]

May is Here

Giovanni Francesco Buonamico

This short sonnet, composed by Giovanni Francesco Buonamico (c. 1672) is thought to be the second oldest extant poem in Maltese.

Translated by Elliott Cotta, original Maltese and Arabic translation below.

May has come, bringing roses and flowers

Gone the cold, lightning, and rain,

The earth now covered with bouquet and bud.

The winds have calmed, the sea gone silent.

From heaven’s face, the clouds have flown

On stony hills sprouts the green

Every bird returns to song

Every heart fills with joy

There would be little happiness on this island

Were it not for the one who keeps her company.

Were it not for the one who watches over her

You’d cry with hunger, seeing her as a prisoner.

You are happiness, and our joy

Cotoner, light of our eyes!

As long as heaven keeps you with us,

At the end of the biting cold, he warms us.

Mejju gie bil-Ward u Zahar / مايو جاء بالورد والزهر

Mejju gie' bl'Uard, u Zahar مايو جاء بالورد والزه ر Aadda l bart, e Sceta, u 'l Beracq عدى البرد الشتاء والبرق T'ghattiet l'art be nuar u l'Uueracq تغطّت الأرض بالنوار والأوراق heda e riech, seket el Bachar هدا الريح وسكت البحر

Tar e schab men nuece e'Sema طار السحاب من وش السما Sa f'l'e Gebiel neptet el chdura صفا الجبل نبتت الخضرة Regeet t'ghanni col Aasfura رجعت تغني كل عصفورة U' f' el fercol cqalb t'ertema وفي الفرح كل قلب ترتمى

E qaila ferh kien fe di Gesira وقلة فرح كان في دي جزيرة li ma Kiensce min i uuennesha إلا مكانش من يؤنسها li ma Kiensce min i charisha إلا مكانش من يحرسها Kecu tepki el giuh phl lsira كيشو تبكي الجوع في الأسيرة Enti el ferh, u 'l hena taana انتي الفرح والهناء تاعنا Cotoner daul ta aineina كوطونير ضوء تا عينينا Tant li e Sema i challic chdeina تانت السماء يخليك حذانا Fl'achar bart i colna e schana في الاخر برد يكلنا يسخنا

[arablit]

Let Us Spell Out Life: Prison Writing by Ahmed Douma

Let Us Spell Out Life: Prison Writing by Ahmed Douma

By Elliott Colla It is something of a badge of honor that Egypt’s most renowned modern poet, the late Ahmed Fouad Negm, was arrested, detained, tried, and imprisoned so many time during his career. Given the deep ideological differences between Egypt’s first three presidents—Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak—it is remarkable that all three agreed on this one point: Negm belonged…

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[arablit]

Poem #10 from Ahmed Douma's 'Curly'

Poem #10 from Ahmed Douma’s ‘Curly’

By Ahmed Douma Translated by Ahmed Hassan and Elliott Colla This throng of questions wounds Especially when the situation is “silent.” Loneliness eats at my mind  And so I begin to fume and babble.  With no one around, I find That my resurrection has come. This swarm of questions is a kind of madness That begins with Why was I created? It drags me down a road  That ends with Whose…

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[arablit]

An Excerpt from Ahmed Douma's 'Blasphemy'

An Excerpt from Ahmed Douma’s ‘Blasphemy’

By Ahmed Douma Translated by Ahmed Hassan and Elliott Colla Nothing is more precious than the opening of a new window onto the world… or onto freedom. This is true everywhere, but it is especially true here.  Our world is measured by the freedom we possess. We might spend our whole life boring a hole to squeeze through. Here, the complex problem we face has to do with the thickness of the…

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[arablit]

Lit & Found: Muhammad al-Maghut, tr. Elliott Colla

Lit & Found: Muhammad al-Maghut, tr. Elliott Colla

Over at this website, elliottcolla.com, translator, scholar, and novelist Elliott Colla has been bringing out poetry from Muhammad al-Maghut’s 1970 collection, Joy is not my Business. As Huda Fakhreddine wrote of the towering Syrian poet in Jacket2: The Syrian poet Muhammad al-Maghut (1934–2006) embraced the persona of the outsider, the loiterer, the hobo. He performed it in his life and in his…

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