By Lina Mahmoud Following his marriage to a Swiss woman five years ago, Hassan Hammad, an Egyptian artist with a PhD in Arabic literature, settled in Switzerland. In a remarkably short period Hammad managed to realise one of his dreams -- to establish a new publishing house producing German translations of the work of younger Arab writers. , the resulting venture (named after the Arabic word for "tongue"), came into being last year. Books are translated and published in Basel but printed in Cairo to cut down on expenses. The house's first product, Mustafa Zikri's short novel Huraa' Mataha Qoutiya (The Drivel of Gothic Labyrinth) appeared only last week, in time for the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. "When I moved to Switzerland, I was happy to realise that great publishing houses like Lethos and Union were interested in Arabic literature. With very few exceptions, however -- Lucien's championing of Miral El-Tahawi, for example -- younger writers were hardly ever represented. And this is how the idea of establishing a new, small venture came to me. I felt it was my duty to counteract the tendency of the well-known houses to publish only well established writers, making younger, more exciting work available to German readers. It's a market without much competition; the work of new publishing houses like should be seen as complementary. Besides, everyone knows that the Arab world covers a vast geographical expanse, with dozens of cultures and hundreds of living writers. We need as many publishing houses as possible. The plan is to specialise in German translations of the work of young writers from all over the Arab world. It's important to emphasise that is interested in Arabic literature as a whole, not just its Egyptian manifestations. It is but a coincidence that the first book to appear with us is written by an Egyptian, Mustafa Zikri. Underway is the translation of books by Mohamed El-Mazroui, an Emirates writer, and several Moroccans. We also intend to publish the work of young poets. " should help expand the territory occupied by Arabic literature in the West, for, compared to fiction from Latin America, for example, Arabic literature remains in a tight spot indeed; the former, after all, has already reached the average German reader. The reasons behind this include the limited number of copies published and the unjustifiably high price tags attached to them (publishers who produce Arabic literature in translation receive grants, you know), which have resulted in Arabic literature staying confined to the language classroom or university lecture hall, while the general- interest reader has no knowledge of it. Nor are existing translations representative of the full scope of Arabic literature. Often books are selected almost at random, some resulting from an intimate relation between writer and translator. Besides, very often it is assumed that a good translation can be made by anyone who knows both languages well; the truth is that it requires someone who lives simultaneously in both cultures. In Arab and German translators work together on the same texts. The Arab translator produces a draft that demystifies the text, the German redrafts it, and it is proofread several times before it goes to press. It is true that some very good translations have not sold, and this has to do with German expectations, which are still locked up in the Orientalist sphere of the Thousand and One Nights. But I imagine that part of the appeal of the young writers we intend to publish will be their capacity to shock German readers into realising what present-day writing in Arabic is really about. That it has its own, non-Orientalist excitement."
