The dog days of summer bear their final fruits before the start of the new academic year—and they couldn’t be sweeter. Here are some recent publicity highlights:
Islamic Sciences names Luke Yarbrough’s “admirable translation” of Sword of Ambition, available since May, “one of the best translations published in the series” and “an amazing narrative that combines erudition, poetry, belles lettres, history, law, and anecdotal accounts into a compelling work.” (Read the full review here.)
Writing in the Journal of Islamic Studies, Mary Hossain calls Consorts of the Caliphs “a meticulously edited translation… The rich variety of experiences related here shakes our preconceived notions and can help towards a better understanding, not just of female slaves, but also of women generally in this period and environment.” (Read the full review here.)
Leg Over Leg tops Forward’s list of “9 Books Bret Stephens Should Read Before Saying Arabs Have a ‘Stunted Literary Culture’.” M. Lynx Qualey explains: “An experience of the full panorama of Arabic literature should probably begin with pre-Islamic poetry. But as to modern letters, you couldn’t find a better beginning than al-Shidyaq’s satirical, sexual, critical, gender-aware, hyper-literate, list-loving and semi-autobiographical ‘Leg over Leg,’ published in 1855, recently translated by Humphrey Davies.” (Read the full article here.)
Amidu Olalekan Sanni of the Journal of Islamic Studies says Geert Jan van Gelder’s Classical Arabic Literature anthology “promises to be an invaluable mine of knowledge for scholars and general readers who need an introduction to the universal appeal and validity of the enlightening and enlightened literary heritage of the Arabic-Islamic intellectual tradition.” (Read the full review here.)
Congratulations to our tireless translators!
—Gemma Juan-Simó, Associate Managing Editor