Teaching the Middle East in a World Literature Class:

Cross-Literary EncountersDr. Sevinç Türkkan

Department of English

Talking about difference:Gaytari Spivak, scholar and writer: Outside in the Teaching Machine (1993)

Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish Nobel Prize winner and author of The White Castle (1991)

Persian Literature

My Argument:Today teaching the Middle East

demands a global context, emphasizing continuities, explaining carefully the reasons for discontinuities with other literary traditions, and most importantly stressing interconnections and commonalities between what otherwise appear to be two isolated and alien worlds in the eyes of our students.

The “Imaginary” Middle East

Languages, Religions, and Cultures of the Middle East

The History of Humanity: A History of Cross-Cultural Encounters

Translating the cultural Other:•The Thousand and One Nights [Alf Laylah wa Laylah], c. late 1200s

•c. 1704-17: Antoine Galland

•c. 1839-41: Edward Lane

•1885-6: Richard Burton

•1984: Muhsin Mahdi

•1990: Husain Haddawy ‘s translation

Richard Burton’s Translation: ALF LAYLAH WA LAYLAH

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE COMPASSIONATING, THE COMPASSIONATE

“… Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen, who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, “Here to me, O my lord Saeed!” and then sprang with a drop-leap from one of the trees a big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly hideous sight*…”

http://www.wollamshram.ca/1001/index.htm

Burton’s annotations:* Debauched women prefer negroes on account

of the size of their parts measured one man in Somali-land who, when quiescent, numbered nearly six inches. This is a characteristic of the negro race and of African animals, i.e. the horse; whereas the pure Arab, man and beast, is below the average of Europe; one of the best proofs by and by, that the Egyptian is not an Asiatic, but a negro partially white-washed….

Husain Haddawy’s translation“It is related- but God knows and sees best

what lies hidden in the old accounts of bygone peoples and times… Then the ten black slaves mounted the ten girls while the lady called, “Mas’ud! Mas’ud” and a black slave jumped from the tree to the ground, rushed to her, and raising her legs, went between her tights and made love to her…

The Qur’an: Sura 24:31“And say to the believing

women that they should lower their gaze and maintain their modesty; and that they should not display their physical features and garments except what must ordinarily appear of it; that they should draw their veils over their breasts and not display their looks except to their husbands” (24:31).

The Qur’an: Sura 24:30“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that will make for

greater purity for them; and God is well acquainted with all that they do”

(24:30).

A student’s comment: “feelings of admiration for both Galip and

Pamuk. From the moment the concept of duality and the usage of mirrors were first introduced, I had hopes for the closing chapters and paragraphs to relate to these themes in the strongest possible way. Without fail, Pamuk delivers the ending in a method that is so innovative and thought provoking. By far this is one of the absolute best, yet perplexing endings I have ever read. Not because of how he wrote it, but because after finishing it I immediately wanted to reread the entire book as if I had misplaced something and hoped that these hidden clues, as Galip did with the things he had thrown down into the airshaft, would find their way back to me.”

Thank you.Questions, comments, suggestions?