Denys Johnson-Davies

Denys Johnson-Davies (Arabic: دنيس جونسون ديڤيز) (also known as Abdul Wadud) was an eminent Arabic-to-English literary translator who translated, inter alia, several works by Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz,[1] Sudanese author Tayeb Salih,[2] Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish[3] and Syrian author Zakaria Tamer.[4][5]

Denys Johnson-Davies with Naguib Mahfouz (r.)

Johnson-Davies, referred to as "the leading Arabic-English translator of our time" by Edward Said, translated more than twenty-five volumes of short stories, novels, plays, and poetry, and was the first to translate the work of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz. He was also interested in Islamic studies and was co-translator of three volumes of Prophetic Hadith. He wrote a number of children’s books adapted from traditional Arabic sources, including a collection of his own short stories, Fate of a Prisoner, which was published in 1999.

Born in 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada of English parentage, Johnson-Davies spent his childhood in Sudan, Egypt, Uganda, and Kenya, and then was sent to England at age 12. Johnson-Davies studied Oriental languages at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and lectured on translation and English literature at several universities across the Arab World. In 2006, he published his memoirs[6] In 2007, he was awarded the Sheikh Zayed Book Award "Culture Personality of the Year", valued at about $300,000.[7]

In his latter years he lived between Marrakesh and Cairo. Denys Johnson-Davies died in Egypt on 22 May 2017.[8]

Bibliography

Selected Translations

Anthologies

  • Modern Arabic Short Stories, selected and translated by Denys Johnson-Davies, 1976, Heinemann Arab Authors Series
  • Egyptian One-Act Plays, selected, edited and translated by Denys Johnson-Davies, 1976, Heinemann Arab Authors Series featuring plays by Tawfiq al-Hakim, Alfred Farag, Farid Kamal, Ali Salem and Abdel-Moneim Selim
  • Egyptian Short Stories, selected, edited and translated by Denys Johnson-Davies, 1978, Three Continent Press including "House of Flesh" by Yusuf Idris, "Grandad Hasan" by Yahya Taher Abdullah, "Within The Walls" by Edwar El-Kharrat, "The Performer" by Ibrahim Aslan, "The Whistle" by Abdul Hakim Kassem, "Suddenly It Rained" by Bahaa Taher, "The Man Who Saw The Sole Of His Left Foot In A Cracked Mirror" by Lutfi Al-Khouli, "A Conversation From The Third Floor" by Mohamed El-Bisatie, "Yusuf Murad Morcos" by Nabil Gorgy, "The Conjurer Made Off With The Dish" by Naguib Mahfouz, "The Accusation" by Suleiman Fayyad, "A Place Under The Dome" by Abdul Rahman Fahmy, "The Country Boy" by Yusuf Sibai, "The Snake" by Sonallah Ibrahim, "The Crush Of Life" by Yusuf Sharouni, "A Story From Prison" by Yahya Haqqi and "The Child And The King" by Gamil Atia Ibrahim.
  • The AUC Press Book of Modern Arabic Literature, edited by Denys Johnson-Davies, 2006, American University in Cairo Press
  • The Essential Naguib Mahfouz: Novels, Short Stories, Autobiography, edited by Denys Johnson-Davies, 2011, American University in Cairo Press

References
  1. The Time and the Place by Naguib Mahfouz, 1992, American University in Cairo Press
  2. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, 1969, Heinemann African Writers Series
  3. The Music of Human Flesh by Mahmoud Darwish, 1980, Heinemann Arab Authors Series
  4. Hassan, Abdalla (March 2006). "Spread the Word". Egypt Today. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  5. Tigers On The Tenth Day and Other Storie by Zakaria Tamer, 1985, Quartet Books
  6. "Denys Johnson-Davies. Memories in Translation. American University in Cairo Press, 2006".
  7. Sheikh Zayed Book Award Archived 2011-09-25 at the Wayback Machine, official website.
  8. "Denys Johnson-Davies, renowned Arabic to English literary translator dies at 94 - Arab - Books - Ahram Online". english.ahram.org.eg. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
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