Arabic language
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Lubna Isamʹs "Sudanese Tales”
Tradition in the present
The art of storytelling has a long tradition in the Arab world. Folk tales and historical events were passed down orally over many generations. Now the Sudanese author Lubna Isam has revived the tradition. Interview by Eslam Anwar
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Book review: Waguih Ghali's "Beer in the Snooker Club"
The cruel disillusionment of an entire generation
The novel "Beer in the Snooker Club" by the Egyptian author Waguih Ghali was first published in London in the mid-1960s. It was rediscovered during the Arab Spring. A German translation has recently been published. Sonja Zekri read the book
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The uncertain future of Modern Standard Arabic
A language in decline
Substantial numbers of schoolchildren in the Gulf are losing their ability to communicate in Arabic. The development may well herald the onset of language loss in the region. By Sawsan Khalaf
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Hedwig Klein and "Mein Kampf"
The unknown Arabist
During the Nazi period, Hedwig Klein worked on a dictionary intended to help with the translation of Hitler's diatribe "Mein Kampf" into Arabic. But it didn't help the Arabist: she was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942. The dictionary, however, remains a bestseller – with no mention of Klein’s fate. By Stefan Buchen
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Tayeb Salih′s ″Season of Migration to the North″
A literary hall of mirrors
Described as the most important Arab novel of the twentieth century by the Arab Literary Academy, Tayeb Salih's ″Season of Migration to the North″ was first published in 1966. For this year′s Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize Lecture, Professor Robert Irwin reflected on Salih′s unique mode of engaging with Western culture and the counternarrative he provides to post-colonial discourse. By Valentina Viene
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Translating ″Mein Kampf″ into Arabic
Hitler′s paperchase
How the Third Reich′s plans to translate ″Mein Kampf″ into Arabic led to the creation of one of the most famous Arabic dictionaries. By Mey Dudin
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Literature versus reality
Author Mansoura Ez-Eldin: Chasing fata morganas
She fought for renewal and lost her illusions. In a very personal text, Egyptian writer Mansoura Ez-Eldin explains how literature accompanied her through a time of radical change
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The 2017 Goethe Medals
Lebanese author Emily Nasrallah wins award: "Language is key"
Every year the Goethe-Institut confers the official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany to honour figures who have performed outstanding service for international cultural dialogue. This year′s Goethe Medals have been awarded to Lebanese author Emily Nasrallah, Indian publisher Urvashi Butalia and Russian civil rights activist Irina Shcherbakova
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Book review: Iman Humaydan′s ″The Weight of Paradise″
Suppressed guilt, suppressed memories
In ″The Weight of Paradise″, the Lebanese writer Iman Humaydan, born in 1956, gives us a layered depiction of the individual and collective traces left on her country by the civil war. By Claudia Kramatschek
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Interview with Masaa frontman Rabih Lahoud
Outspoken appeal
Masaa's blend of free-spirited instrumental quartet and outstanding male voice makes their sound arguably the most accomplished fusion of Jazz and Arab tonal colouring currently to be found in Germany. On their third album ″Outspoken″ the four musicians demonstrate their mature mastery of their craft. Stefan Franzen talked to singer Rabih Lahoud
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Niqab-wearing novelists in Egypt
Your philosophy, my religion
In Egypt, novels written by women who wear the face-veil are gaining in popularity, despite the fact that literary critics point to their religious ideological slant and literary weaknesses. By Sameh Fayez
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Syrian author and poet Ra′id Wahsh
Who ate the sky?
What are Syrian authors writing about their country? How do they write? Who among them can find the strength to capture the horrors of war in words? Stefan Buchen has been reading a monologue written by one young writer. Literature that emerges from the rubble and ruins of war, he says, may well strike a familiar chord – it just needs to be translated