Monday, November 11th, 2013 10:21 am

It’s been a long time coming, but we are finally posting the full video(s) of the panel hosted by the editors of the Library of Arabic Literature last December in Abu Dhabi, titled Caliphs and their Consorts: Translating Anecdotes and Poetry in Ibn al-Saʿi’s Nisaʾ al-khulafaʾ (Women of the Caliphs). General editor Philip F. Kennedy introduces the series and its first published title,Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology, edited and translated by Geert Jan van Gelder; editorial board member Julia Bray deconstructs the process of collaborative translation in light of a 12th-century work on the wives and women of caliphs and sultans; and executive editor Shawkat M. Toorawa moderates the ensuing discussion on the merits and challenges of rendering classical Arabic poetry and prose. In the latter, the panelists sink their teeth into the meat of translation and jointly analyze specific passages — watch the footage for Michael Cooperson’s take on “eye candy,” Richard Sieburth’s defense of “balm to the eyes,” and Tahera Qutbuddin’s argument against “sight for sore eyes.”

Click more below to see the footage.

Chip Rossetti
Managing Editor, Library of Arabic Literature

Panel, Part One.

Panel, Part Two.

Panel, Part Three.

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