In the last issue of the TLS (issue 9-20-19) was a brief review (by Andre
Naffis-Sahely) of Fawzi Karim's very short Incomprehensible Lesson. Karim
had a heart ailment that he died of (at age 73) earlier this year. That,
plus his having fled Sunni Iraq as a Shiite perhaps contributed to his
feelings of alienation and being an exile. The reviewer writes
"Incomprehensible lesson finds one of the Arab world's most romantic lyrical
poets 'on the run from a nightmare,' 'celebrating [his]isolation,' 'in front
of the sphinx-like stares of the border police'.
Andre Naffis-Sahely's tone seems to imply that Karim had young. Maybe so,
but "Karim published more than twenty collections of poetry, as well as over
a dozen volumes of criticism"; and Saffis-Sahely is saddened that only two
of Karim's collections have been translated into English, both by Anthony
Howell who does not speak Arabic. Presumably he reads Arabic. ;-)
Naffis-Sahely is not impressed, but "until better English versions are
available, readers would do well to seek out both Plague Lands and
incomprehensible Lesson; the ghost of Fawzi Karim's greatness is undeniably
visible in them, despite the odds."
The first Karim poem I have been impressed with is "Lowfield Road Quartet"
which begins,
And now in al Andalus Square,
As the bird preens, does the light of dawn
Quench this thirst or not?
The dancers turn heavily as millstones
In the orbit of their fear, fear of waking.
The glass turns, the head turns,
And the waiter hovers, attentive:
'Another shot of araq?'
. . .
Saffis-Sahely seems more impressed with "The Empty Quarter" which begins,
"I landed, thanks to a pair of wings,
A flask of wine and a pack of cigarettes.
Peculiar state of exiled human, hoping that some girl
might actually speak Iraqi in Hyde Park -
My verse without its target butt, my arrow
careless of its aim.
I am a somnambulist
Borne along by passers-by:
flanneur among their hastening feet . . ."
I was put off a bit by the beginning of this one, sounding as it does as
though he's scoffing at Omar Khayyam.
In any case, Torgeir, who seems to keep up with foreign poets, perhaps has
kept up with this one. Only two collections translated into English and
those by a bad translator. . . Perhaps Karim has been translated more
comprehensively by a better translator into one of the other languages
Torgeir knows and he'd like to share his opinion. J
Lawrence
