Disembodied ‘foreign hands' allegedly always poke their fingers into the pie at times of crises throughout the Arab region. What a pleasure then to have been present at the Café Riche late April when an embodied industrious and illustrious foreign hand was lauded and fêted by Egyptian literati and foreign residents of Cairo alike. Although, given his familiarity with the region and Arabic, Denys Johnson-Davies may well be regarded as an honorary Arab, and certainly has been honoured for his services to Arab culture, in the name of the late exemplary leader of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed. Peripatetic since birth, Johnson-Davies, whose other name is Abdul Wadoud, is British but was born in Canada and lived with his family in different African countries until going to boarding school in England when he was 12. After studying Arabic at London University's School of Oriental Studies (which later became SOAS) and Cambridge, he joined the BBC and then came to Cairo in 1945, just after the end of World War II. Since then he has lived in the Middle East and North Africa. The AUC Press launch at Café Riche marked the publication of Home Coming – Sixty Years of Egyptian Short Stories, selected and translated by Denys Johnson-Davies, and also the 90th birthday of the pre-eminent translator of modern Arabic literature together with anthologies of short stories over more than 60 years. The story began in the 1940s when he first came to Egypt, as he recounted last year in an interview with Ingrid Wassman, AUC Press Online Editor, speaking about translating and Naguib Mahfouz (AUC Press Youtube video). His translations of the Nobel laureate include The Essential Naguib Mahfouz (AUC Press, 2011) “No-one was paying any attention to Arabic literature. I was the only translator, now there are some 15 to 20 translators from Arabic into English. Then there was nobody except me and I thought it was important to do something for Arabic literature. I was a sort of dictator! The Arabs themselves were not interested.” The Egyptian writer he first translated in the 1940s was Mahmoud Teymour, who encouraged Denys Johnson-Davies, starting with translations in local English language periodicals followed by the first book, which was published at the translator's own expense. It was some 20 years before he persuaded Oxford University Press (OUP) to publish an anthology, Arabic Short Stories, in 1967. The translator continued: “Naguib Mahfouz developed Arabic literature. Although he refused to use colloquial language in dialogue, he refused also to use high-faluting classical Arabic and dealt with life in a very direct manner. He was unique and very organised in his life and work, producing an enormous amount – 37 books. He took it very seriously, but did not take himself seriously; he was a modest man with a sense of humour, astonished to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.” Speaking at the Café Riche, having emphasised that translation is very hard work and that translators are insufficiently appreciated, Johnson-Davis stated: ‘I would have preferred to have been a writer in my early life and published two novels pseudonymously.” He was attempting to publish a third novel with British publishers but it eventually fell by the wayside with the then travails of long distance and extremely slow mail publisher-writer communication . “Thank God for email!” He remarked that “people may be surprised at the title Home Coming the anthology being dedicated to the late Yusef Abu Rayya, who died young, not by his name, but by the title of one of his short stories published in this collection.” Yusef Abu Rayya's best known work was the novel Wedding Night (2002) winning the Naguib Mahfouz Medal/Prize in 2005 and translated by R. Neil Hewison into English and published by AUC Press, 2006. Hewison, AUC Press Associate Director and an editor, writer and translator, expressed “a debt of gratitude to Johnson-Davies for struggling alone for many years, pushing OUP into publishing and opening the door that led to the present.” He was speaking on behalf of himself and other translators, including the award-winning Humphrey Davies who was present. The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, with the late Nobel laureate's approval, has been awarded since 1996 by AUC Press for the best contemporary novel published in Arabic – a silver medal, cash prize, translation and publication. Johnson-Davies explained: “When I suggested it to Mark Linz [then AUC Press Director] he said that ‘the best prize was the translation. Arabic literature arrived somewhere and an Arabic writer got the prize'. It's done a lot for Arabic literature and been instrumental in translation.” Leading Egyptian creative writers present at the Café Riche and represented in Home Coming included novelist Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, short story writer Said el-Kafrawi, doctor, writer and journalist Mohamed Makhzangi and novelist, translator and social commentator Bahaa Taher. They paid tribute to Denys Johnson-Davies and his immeasurable dedication and services to modern Arabic literature, which, if the translator had achieved his early ambition, they and we would have been bereft! Home Coming – Sixty Years of Egyptian Short Stories, Selected and translated by Denys Johnson-Davis, 372 pages, hardback, The American University in Cairo Press, 2012, LE150
