Classical Arabic Maqamāt as the Manual of Modern English

Abstract

The paper deals with the most recent English translation of the classical Arabic Maqāmāt by Al-Ḥarīrī (1054-1122), highlighting its significance for modern readers. In the Middle Ages, the cycle of al-Hariri’s Maqāmāt was translated into several Eastern languages from Arabic. The original version first appeared in Europe in the 13^th century. In the 17^th century, it was translated into Latin, and later into French, English, German, and other languages. However, due to its complex style and challenging vocabulary, Maqāmāt was regarded as an untranslatable text. 

In 2020, the last translated version of this masterpiece, Impostures, was issued by the NYU Press. According to the translator, Associate Professor at the University of California, LA, Michael Cooperson, the reason for creating a new translation was the unpopularity of existing ones. He thinks that lexical translation of the classical Maqāmāt can never become widespread in Anglophonic culture.  

The complicated style was an ethical norm in the Middle Ages. The authors wished to demonstrate that nothing was impossible for the language of God. Cooperson tried to imitate the “verbal performance” of the original text. Using the idioms of the classical authors (as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Gilbert, Woolf, etc.) and globally spoken English (as Spanglish, Kiwi, Cockney, etc.), he presented an interpretation of al-Hariri’s linguistic tricks. Such transformations made Impostures a very unique version, as it might be assessed as not only “Englishing” but also “Transculturation”. But the main reason for Cooperson’s success is the linguistic aspect of his work.   

In the era of artificial intelligence, when algorithms are so important and literary language is becoming poorer, Impostures, with its rich lexis and creativity, is perceived as the manual of modern Global English. If the Arab author used to underline possibilities of the international language of his epoch, Cooperson shows the possibilities of the contemporary lingua franca.