The University Of Birmingham

MA Translation Studies
Assignment

Year 2016/2017
Student Number: 1710836
Title of Module: 28331 Introduction to Translation Theory

Assessed Work Title: Even-Zohar (1990/2012: 163) describes three cases where translated
literature “maintains a central position in the literary polysystem (…) it participates actively
in shaping the center of the polysystem”. Discuss one situation where translated literature
does have a central position in a particular system. Consider the strengths and limitations of
Even-Zohar’s model when describing the chosen example.
Number of Words: 2999 words

Declaration of Authorship:
1. My registration number (but not my name) is clearly marked on the face of the
essay.
2. In submitting this essay I declare that it complies with the School specifications for
the formatting of assessed work.
3. By submitting this essay I declare that it is my own work. It complies with the
University of Birmingham’s rules on plagiarism, which I have read carefully. No part
 of it is copied from published or unpublished work of anyone else except where such
quotations are properly cited and acknowledged.

Sign: 1710836 Date: 08/01/2017

Polysystems and the Egyptian Literary System

In the early 1970’s Itamar Even-Zohar launched his Polysystem hypothesis. It constituted an
in-depth analysis of how various independent systems interacted with one another within a
larger all-encompassing system. During the previous decade, linguistics had started to
connect language to its sociocultural function (Munday 2012: 165) and the polysystem
theory provided fertile ground for newly developed descriptive approaches to flourish, with
translated texts now viewed collectively as a system of the target culture rather than merely
a collection of separate texts (Chang 2011: 312). At a time when translation theorists were
turning away from dominant prescriptive theoretical models in search of descriptive
approaches, polysystem theory proved a useful arena to explore the relationship between
translated texts and the wider world. Whilst an interrelationship between translation and
literature may seem obvious, it is important to note that certain systems may share a
greater or lesser inherent correlation to one another dependent on the culture within which
they are situated. Although Even-Zohar’s model states that all polysystems are structured in
the same way, he concedes that cultures can differ significantly (Even-Zohar 1990: 50),
therefore signalling that it is indeed the connection between systems which may alter
dependent on sociocultural conditions. These assumed observables (Even-Zohar 1990: 27)
are governed by a multitude of factors which differ in significance from one culture to the
next and therefore, it is pertinent to this essay that the culture of the national literary
system in question be properly contextualised in order to assess the validity of the claim
that translated literature can have an active role in shaping the system.

This essay seeks to explore translated literature’s role within the Egyptian literature system
by assessing the three major historical encounters with foreign literature that were catalytic
in shaping the national literature system as it appears today. Firstly, the Abbasid Era (750-
1258) when Egypt formed part of a homogenous Arab Caliphate ruled from Baghdad.
Secondly, the brief period of French rule under Napoleon Bonaparte (1798-1801), and finally
the three decades of British occupation leading up to the First World War (1882-1914).
These eras form significant moments in Egypt’s literary history because each provide the
conditions that the polysystems model claims enable translated literature to assume a
central position within a literary system (Even-Zohar 1990: 47). It is important here to note
that whilst an attempt has been made to divide its history into three distinctive eras,
Egyptian literature did not simply cease to develop outside of these periods and events of
real significance which this essay aims to cover did indeed occur outside of the eras
discussed. Yet, whilst these episodes came during fleeting moments of autonomous rule or
under the auspices of Mamluk or Ottoman rulers, their occurrence was in fact a result of the
catalytic encounters of the aforementioned eras. For this reason, and in an attempt to form
a cohesive essay, all events have been organised and detailed within the context of the
original encounter that triggered their occurrence.

The Abbasid Era (750-1258)

It is often tempting to discuss the Arab World as a single homogenous entity, with terms
such as ‘Arab Literature’, ‘Arab Cinema’ and ‘Arab Spring’ now in frequent usage. Yet, the
Arab World consists of a vast, disparate number of countries stretching from North Africa to
the Arabian Gulf. Whilst each of these countries share an over-arching affinity in the way
their social and political systems are intertwined with Islam, they also comprise inherently
different aspects of culture that have developed through centuries of autonomous rule and
individual experiences governed by foreign politics. Therefore, any discussion of a current-
day ‘Arab polysystem’ would first require an in-depth analysis of the various sociocultural
conditions which have shaped each country.
Yet, there was a time when relative homogeneity existed throughout the Arab World under
a bureaucratically ruled Caliphate governed from Baghdad by the Abbasid Empire (750 –
1258 AD). It was under the Abbasids that culture flourished throughout the region, largely
through an appreciation and understanding of the importance of translation. Roger Allen
outlines several periods in the history of the Arab World where the process of translation,
and the close contact with other cultures it afforded, affected the written form of the Arabic
language (Allen 1992: 191) and under the Abbasid’s, the oral tradition of the Arabic
language was challenged by a myriad of Greek, Coptic, Persian, and Indian source texts all
being rendered into Arabic as part of “the first organised, large-scale translation activity in
history” (Baker 2001: 316). This era is significant to the later evolution of the Egyptian
literature polysystem as it represents the first time in the history of the Arab World that
translated texts took on a primary position within the centre of the literary polysystem. The
young and under-developed written form of the language began to take inspiration from the
abundance of well-established source texts it came into contact with. The creation of
literary forms during this time such as the maqamah – often considered the ‘ancestor of the
novel’ and the saj (Hafez 1992: 270) were both created at this time by Arabs of Persian
origin and remained a key element in Egyptian literature until its encounter with Western
literature during French occupation five centuries later.

An Arab literary system in 8th century Baghdad would have made for very sparse reading
indeed, as canonical religious texts such as the Quran and Hadith were only just being
formalised and written down in a way that fused the various language systems of the tribes
of the Arabian Peninsula into one standard dialect (Allen 2005: 12). According to Even-
Zohar’s model (Even-Zohar 1990: 46), this would likely have provided the necessary vacuum
that translated literature requires to actively shape the centre of the wider polysystem. A
century later, the Abbasid Caliph Ma’mun (r. 813-833) had turned Baghdad into a diverse
and liberal capital which in turn provided the necessary sociocultural foundations for an
ambitious translation project to take hold. An Arab of Persian origin himself, Ma’mun
understood that translation had the capacity to provide the rapid acquisition of foreign
knowledge his empire now required to advance further. His project laid the foundations for
a rich era of original writing (Baker 2001: 321) which, given the diverse nationalities of
translators involved and the relative infancy of Arabic’s written form, allows for the
assumption that much of this original writing would have taken influence from several other
older, more established literary systems.

Whilst Baghdad lies 800 miles from Cairo, the Abbasid era is significant to this essay as it
provides an early example of all three factors which Even-Zohar claims enable translated
literature to occupy an innovatory role within shaping a literary system (Even-Zohar 1990:
47). Firstly, the infancy of the written Arabic form meant that the Arab literary system was
yet to be crystallised in spite of its rich oratorical tradition. Secondly, the plethora of foreign
source texts conveying superior knowledge rapidly demoted Arabic to the position of a
peripheral language within various disciplines as translators struggled to manage the supply
of raw texts and the demand for translation. Finally, the collapse of the Abbasid Empire in
1258 following the Mongol sacking of Baghdad caused not only the first major crisis within
Arab (and therefore, Egyptian) literature, but also the subsequent vacuum that would
plague Egyptian literature for a further five centuries.

French Occupation (1798-1801)

Though Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt lasted only three years, this period is widely
considered to have caused the catalyst which revitalised Egyptian literature (Starkey 2006:
24). Whilst it is important to note that literature and poetry was indeed produced during
the Ottoman era, an overreliance on dialectal Egyptian as the literary language during this
time has led to a general discounting of the majority of these texts as inferior products
when compared to those created during the Abbasid era. The arrival of the French, and the
Western culture they brought with them, was originally met with ambivalence by the
Egyptian elite yet they soon strove to adopt Western values. Napoleon’s mission was not
entirely driven by military means and his travelling companions included not only soldiers,
but scientists tasked with examining and recording daily life in the country. The decision to
bring learned men to the country was in fact a response to translated literature’s gradual
move inwards from the periphery within the French literature system. Following Antoine
Galland’s 1704 translation of the Thousand and One Nights1, France was gripped by a
fascination with Eastern exoticism (Allen 2005: 134). The interest Napoleon’s scientists
demonstrated in Egyptian culture proved a significant catalyst in Western literature’s

1
The Thousand and One Nights has only recently become an object of interest among Arab critics and its place within any
Arab polysystem would likely be far more peripheral than expected.
capacity to comfortably infiltrate the national literary system as it constituted part of a
reciprocal exchange of cultures. This led to many of Egypt’s elite initially embracing
Western occupation as a way of exposing them to a culture that “seemed to promise all
manner of worldly benefits” (Cachia 1992: 24).

Following the expulsion of the French, it would be another 80 years before Egypt was forced
into its second encounter with Western culture. During this time they would experience a
period of autonomous rule under the former Mamluk soldier Muhammad Ali Pasha - “the
founder of modern Egypt” (Brown 1984: 41) before slumping back into a second spell of
Ottoman rule. Though the French were gone, they had left a lasting impression on the
national literary system and Egypt’s fleeting encounter with a stronger, more crystallised
foreign system had opened their minds to the “progressive substitution of Western literary
forms” (Starkey 2006: 23) which continued to shape the centre of the system long after the
departure of the French. The gradual westernisation of Egyptian literature continued largely
thanks to the progressive thinking of the former Albanian soldier who now ruled the
country. Following Napoleon’s swift exit from Egypt and the realisation of Egyptian
autonomy in 1805, he dispatched hundreds of educated Egyptians on exploratory missions
to France and Italy were they were tasked with acquiring as much knowledge as possible of
progressive Western systems including education, politics and the military. The non-literary
nature of the first source texts to be translated confirms Even-Zohar’s claim that the
conditions of the target culture determine what is to be translated (Even-Zohar 1990: 46) as
early on Ali Pasha was only interested in the knowledge which he felt could assist him in
building a nation.

Laden with books, the mission returned to Egypt a few years later to continue the task of
translating a near infinite collection of texts. Whilst their main instruction had been to
render those texts which would directly assist Ali Pasha’s ambitious education reforms
(Starkey 2006:26), their encounter with liberal Western cultures led many to begin
translating the fictional literature they had read, winding down in the evenings. Ali Pasha
had been concerned by such deviation and sent his trusted emissary Rifa’ah al-Tahtawi as
chaperone and Imam to the group bound for Paris and whilst there, al-Tahtawi
demonstrated a deep interest in the various workings of Western constructs such as
parliament and ‘the nation’. Back in Egypt, the father of modern Arab thought (Badawi
1992: 09) was appointed director of the translation school established in Cairo which
provided Egypt with a “ready vehicle for an increasingly rapid introduction of Western ideas
into Egyptian intellectual life” (Allen 2005: 45). Four decades later, even before the arrival
of the British, translated literature had become a common feature of newspapers and
journals, often appearing in serialised form alongside original Arabic stories written with a
similar literary structure. The serial format in which they were now published was itself a
Western conception and mimicked the foundations of the European fictional tradition (Allen
1992: 183).

As Even-Zohar’s model clearly states, it is the “network of relations that is hypothesised to

obtain between a number of activities called literary” (Even-Zohar 1990: 28) which make up
the literary system. Therefore it is important to view the translation projects of Ali Pasha -
and of Ma’mun half a millennia earlier - as literary activities responsible for forming the
system. Through exposure to Western systems, ideologies and literary forms encased
within these source texts, Egyptian literature was rapidly becoming the most credible
literature system in the region. Yet the explosion of foreign concepts which were attached
to it may have proved too overpowering for a national literature still waking from a long
period of hibernation.

British Occupation (1888 – 1914)

As British rule dragged on into the 20 th Century the Egyptian literature polysystem continued
to take shape through a selective accepting and rejecting of British literature norms. Ali
Pasha’s ambitious translation project had introduced Western culture and literary forms to a
growing literate middle class who were now familiar with the new styles which had steadily
replaced traditional Arabic forms. This acceptance of Western literary norms can be
considered to confirm translated literature’s position within the centre of the system, as
according to Even-Zohar’s hypothesis, writers become more concerned with the
introduction of new models and repertoires when translated literature is actively shaping
the system (Even-Zohar 1990: 47). The gradual replacement of pre-existing home literature
norms such as the traditional maqama and saj was almost instantaneous, with the
continuing tradition of translation and adaptation of romance novels and short stories (Allen
2005: 118) that directed Egyptian literature’s growth in the 19 th century. In spite of a
growing hostility towards their occupiers, the majority of authors and poets continued to
embrace Western literary forms through the production of their own translations of French
and British texts which they placed alongside original works of their own following the
Western style.

Whilst it is clear that literary forms such as prose style and genre inherent in translated
literature gradually overpowered the Egyptian literary system over a century and a half of
exposure to Western culture, an analysis of Even-Zohar’s hypothesis in this context requires
more than merely proving a nation’s adoption of foreign literary forms. The model
proposes, amongst other things, that translated literature’s journey inwards within the
polysystem is propelled by the phenomenon of leading writers also producing “the most
conspicuous or appreciated translations” (Even-Zohar 1990: 46) which in turn allows foreign
works to introduce features to the home literature which did not previously exist. At a time
when Egyptian writers found themselves being pulled in different directions, many had
begun to avoid introducing Western forms into original works as an act of defiance, despite
their involvement in the translation of Western source texts. One of these was the ‘Prince
of Poets’ Ahmad Shawqi (d. 1932) who gained renown not only for his original works, but
also for his translations of French literature. Yet, as much as Shawqi publicly refused to
introduce Western styles, a translation of a series of French fables into Arabic provided too
tempting a genre to ignore and he created an original series of his own written in Arabic
(Starkey 2006: 47). Whilst Shawqi is often portrayed as the poet dedicated to the
safeguarding of classical Arabic literary traditions, not even he could resist allowing features
of home literature to influence his work.

Shawqi’s seemingly contradictory resistance to Western literary forms was somewhat

representative of the predicament that Egypt’s elite found themselves in under British
occupation. The nation’s encounter with the West and the ‘Nahda’ (renaissance) which it
had triggered caused an irresistible coming together of “the indigenous tradition, and the
imported Western forms” (Badawi 2006: 01) that combined the eloquence of the Arabic oral
form with the established literary system of a mature European literature. During the
1930’s, following the departure of the British, Egypt was gripped by reformist sentiment
under controversial figures including the Wahhabi Islamist Rashid Rida (Thompson 2004:
597). As the nation attempted to re-establish itself following colonial rule, attempts to
revive traditional literary forms such as the maqama and saj were made in an effort to
reclaim the Egyptian literary heritage. Whilst this growing sentiment gave way to a new
literary genre known as neo-classicism which symbolised “a need to reassert an Arab
cultural identity in a world of rapidly changing political realities” (Starkey 2006: 45), its
success was limited as it failed to imprint itself onto what had become a literary system of
an almost entirely foreign construct. Unsurprisingly, the allure of a mature and well-
established foreign literary system was not easily quashed by a post-colonial resentment
entrenched in Islamist rhetoric and by the mid-20 th century, in spite of all efforts to
resuscitate traditional Arab forms, fiction and the short-story had undoubtedly supplanted
poetry as the most popular mode of literary expression in the Arab world (Allen 2005: 133).

Conclusion

Translated literature has always had a central position within the history of the country’s
literary polysystem. The diversity of the Abbasid era and the exposure of literature to older,
more crystallised language systems and art forms represented an unrefined literature
eagerly shaping itself through its encounter with more developed sociocultural structures.
Under Western occupation Egyptian literature experienced a tumultuous interrelationship
with translated literature as on the one hand, it provided the rich oratorical history with a
pre-packaged literary system on which to supplant itself. Yet on the other hand, translated
literature’s central position led to the gradual demolition of traditional forms. It would be
hard to deny that translated literature has indeed actively shaped the Egyptian literature
polysystem with Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz himself responsible for producing over
30 novels encompassing the genre stylistics and literary norms inherent of 19 th century
Western literature earlier discussed. Through not only exposure to more crystallised
cultural systems, but also through literary activities such as Ali Pasha’s translation project,
Egypt’s literary system provides numerous example of Even-Zohar’s model which confirm
translated literature’s ability to not only infiltrate the centre of the polysystem but also its
capacity to actively shape home literature in spite of a nation’s attempts to resist its lure.
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