Hashem al-Jahdali
@hashimaljahdali · Public intellectuals, authors & commentators
Hashem al-Jahdali is a Saudi writer and cultural commentator.
The true and sincere Yemeni voice is manifest: . . "Saudi Arabia is our beautiful destiny, which we are not ashamed to turn to.. As for your Tehran, it is nothing but shame itself.. death in all its blackness.. devastation in its most horrific manifestations."
Translated from Arabic#دار_الكرمة republishes the wonderful novel #بندول_فوكو by the brilliant #أمبرتو_إيكو after its first edition, published in 2011, became rare and the Syrian edition published in Aleppo finally became unavailable in the market. Thank you, Dar Al Karma, and may mercy be upon the soul of our esteemed translator #أماني_فوزي_حبشي.
Translated from ArabicDo you remember #ماجد_شيحة and his novel #سلفي_يكتب_الروايات_سرًا? His novel #البردية_الأولى_لآدم is coming out soon. According to the publisher #دار_الشروق, the new novel explores the worlds of the unknown text and the lost language, and I introduced it as follows: "Idris, an al-Azhar student from Mali, was not looking for anything to change his life when he stopped in front of a cheap papyrus displayed in a shop window in Cairo. But a single phrase written in Arabic letters and carrying an echo of his first language drove him to buy it and try to translate it. Between research and obsession, and between an unknown text and a writer who leaves no trace, the question becomes more pressing: Did Idris really find a lost language, or did the language he is pursuing begin, quietly, to reshape and change him?"
Translated from ArabicBottom line: "Saudi wisdom is not weakness… and Saudi patience is not endless."
Translated from Arabic#تساؤل_شعبي -- - What country is distinguished by the largest number of traditional games, musical rhythms, and popular dishes? . . I have not found a documented source that satisfactorily answers the question, but I think the Kingdom, if it is not in first place, is among the leading ones; the diversity there is very rich indeed, and some of it naturally overlaps with neighboring countries.
Translated from ArabicO world, remember well the nights of September 9, 10, and 11, for what follows will not be as it was before, and you will see. #اليمن_حُر
Translated from ArabicMay God have mercy on you, #صفية_بن_زقر, you were an early dawn.
Translated from Arabic#دمشق_تغني_صنعاء. "May you remain for history an awe-inspiring sanctuary."
Translated from Arabic#هشام_مطر_يدخل_التاريخ -- According to the cultural supplement of The Daily Telegraph, #العودة by the Libyan novelist #هشام_مطر was included among the fifty most important works in world history, according to the ranking by literary critic #جيك_كيريدج. The list of the fifty books is: Ancient and Medieval (from the 8th century BC to the 16th century) 1 - The Iliad (The Iliad) – Homer 2 - The Last Days of Socrates (The Last Days of Socrates) – Plato 3 - Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses) – Ovid 4 - The Arabian Nights (The Arabian Nights) – Anonymous 5 - The Pillow Book (The Pillow Book) – Sei Shōnagon 6 - The Divine Comedy (The Divine Comedy) – Dante Alighieri 7 - The Canterbury Tales (The Canterbury Tales) – Geoffrey Chaucer 8 - Gargantua and Pantagruel (Gargantua and Pantagruel) – François Rabelais 9 - The Complete Essays (The Complete Essays) – Michel de Montaigne 10 - Journey to the West / The Monkey King (Journey to the West) – Wu Cheng’en 11 - Don Quixote (Don Quixote) – Miguel de Cervantes 12 - The Anatomy of Melancholy (The Anatomy of Melancholy) – Robert Burton 17th and 18th centuries 13 - The Diary of Samuel Pepys (The Diary of Samuel Pepys) – Samuel Pepys 14 - Paradise Lost (Paradise Lost) – John Milton 15 - The Pilgrim's Progress (The Pilgrim's Progress) – John Bunyan 16 - Brief Lives (Brief Lives) – John Aubrey 17 - Gulliver's Travels (Gulliver's Travels) – Jonathan Swift 18 - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (Tristram Shandy) – Laurence Sterne 19 - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) – Edward Gibbon 20 - The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano) – Olaudah Equiano 19th century (the golden age of the novel) 21 - Persuasion (Persuasion) – Jane Austen (chosen instead of Pride and Prejudice) 22 - Frankenstein (Frankenstein) – Mary Shelley 23 - Don Juan (Don Juan) – Lord Byron 24 - Wuthering Heights (Wuthering Heights) – Emily Brontë 25 - Bleak House (Bleak House) – Charles Dickens 26 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) – Lewis Carroll 27 - War and Peace (War and Peace) – Leo Tolstoy 28 - The Ring and the Book (The Ring and the Book) – Robert Browning 29 - Middlemarch (Middlemarch) – George Eliot 30 - The Mayor of Casterbridge (The Mayor of Casterbridge) – Thomas Hardy 20th century (modernism and beyond) 31 - Ulysses (Ulysses) – James Joyce 32 - The Great Gatsby (The Great Gatsby) – F. Scott Fitzgerald 33 - In Search of Lost Time (In Search of Lost Time) – Marcel Proust 34 - The Trial (The Trial) – Franz Kafka 35 - In Parenthesis (In Parenthesis) – David Jones 36 - Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (Black Lamb and Grey Falcon) – Rebecca West 37 - Animal Farm (Animal Farm) – George Orwell (chosen instead of 1984) 38 - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) – Maya Angelou 39 - The Hearing Trumpet (The Hearing Trumpet) – Leonora Carrington 40 - The Periodic Table (The Periodic Table) – Primo Levi Modern and contemporary era (from the late 20th century to the 21st century) 41 - A Place of Greater Safety (A Place of Greater Safety) – Hilary Mantel 42 - The Road (The Road) – Cormac McCarthy 43 - Persepolis (Persepolis) – Marjane Satrapi 44 - The Ghost Road (The Ghost Road) – Pat Barker 45 - The Smoking Diaries (The Smoking Diaries) – Simon Gray 46 - The Year of Magical Thinking (The Year of Magical Thinking) – Joan Didion 47 - The Return (The Return) – Hisham Matar 48 - The Line of Beauty (The Line of Beauty) – Alan Hollinghurst 49 - A Ghost in the Throat (A Ghost in the Throat) – Doireann Ní Ghríofa 50 - The Underground Railroad (The Underground Railroad) – Colson Whitehead. -- It is strange that #دوستويفسكي_وماركيز are absent from the list. #العودة has not yet been translated into Arabic.
Translated from ArabicThe era of heavyweight magazines. . Who remembers “Issues and Testimonies,” its editorial board, and #عبدالرحمن_منيف_وسعدالله_ونوس and and?
Translated from ArabicPraise be to God #الاتحاد_النصر
Translated from ArabicHundreds of millions are waiting for the #كلاسيكو_البحر_الأحمر . . #الاتحاد_النصر
Translated from ArabicBy your leave, Western Coast" #ثول
Translated from ArabicThe cultural scene that creates its own stars, #محاكمة_الخنزير as an example -- quite apart from the quality or lack of quality of this novel, the strangeness of its idea, and its narrative, which drew inspiration from theatrical rhythm. Yet it made me wonder: How does a #رواية_فرنسية by a French novelist, written when he was not yet thirty, find an audience with the Arab publisher who translates it a year after its publication? It was published in 2019 and translated in 2020, through a publishing house with a presence in the Arab publishing scene, #المركز_الثقافي_العربي. Meanwhile, the most important Arabic novels are still waiting. And when they are translated, the translation comes from unknown publishing houses or through support programs whose endpoint is book warehouses instead of bookstore shelves and bestseller and most influential lists. . . Why?
Translated from ArabicThe bottom line: . . "In the harshest moments for the #اليمنيين, #السعودية remains at the forefront, and the facts are measured when necessary."
Translated from ArabicToday, September 1, marks the 15th anniversary of the passing of the historian, historical researcher, anthropologist, and scholar of religions #كمال_الصليبي, author of the groundbreaking work #التوراة_جاءت_من_جزيرة_العرب.
Translated from Arabic#تغريبة_القوافل_والمطر_مسرحيًا In memory of those days and their people, the beautiful boisterous movement, the unforgettable manifestations of the 1980s, and the spirit of the master of the desert. Here we recall the moment when the poet #محمد_الثبيتي's text "The Caravans' Journey and the Rain" was adapted for the stage by #فرع_جمعية_الثقافة_والفنون_بالقصيم in 1988 .. Set design, scenography, and visual artwork by the artist / #علي_عبدالله_السعيد Singing: #إبراهيم_العميم Cast /عبدالله المزيني / صالح الصقعبي/ فايز الكريديس and a group of actors Direction / #مصطفى_عبدالخالق
Translated from ArabicAnecdotes from the memory of #العراق
Translated from ArabicThese are not ordinary sculptures like those that fill many cities around the world. These are treasures of the creativity of the world’s most important artists, for few cities have works by illustrious names such as these in their squares: #هنري_مور "3 works, imagine 3 works by Henry Moore in Jeddah" #خوان_ميرو #فيكتور_فزارالي #سيزار_بلديسيني #جين_آرب #ألكسندر_كالدر #خوليو_لافونتي #عبدالحليم_رضوي #ربيع_الأخرس #مصطفى_سنبل and many others. Especially given the note about #اختفاء_380_مجسما_من_شوارع_جدة "This appeared in a report by Al-Watan newspaper in 2019." Therefore, we hope that the Jeddah Governorate and its municipality will pay attention to this enormous cultural treasure.
Translated from ArabicFrom the southern poetic memory: . . "O Sheikh Jarallah, what drove you to Najd al-Aqsa, what made you dislike the pools of Bani Hasan when we are your people?"
Translated from Arabic#جمل_المحامل The full story -- Two days ago, Palestinian artist #سليمان_منصور passed away, and with his passing his iconic creative work, the painting “Camel of Burdens,” returned to the fore. What is the story of this painting that became a symbol of the Palestinian diaspora? - Its first version was painted in 1973 and was a depiction of the #العتال_الفلسطيني “porter.” - The first exhibition in which it was shown was the exhibition of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Jerusalem in 1975. - Some young people active in publishing asked to have it printed as posters and asked about the name of the painting. They were told “the Palestinian porter,” and it happened that the creative artist #إميل_حبيبي was present at the exhibition and heard the discussion, so he intervened and suggested that it be called #جمل_المحامل. - This version was lost under mysterious circumstances. - The artist painted it again in 1976 and it was displayed in an exhibition in Amman. Then the exhibition moved to London, where the #السفير_الليبي in Britain acquired it to give it to #للقذافي on his birthday. - In the 1990s, #مركز_الواسطي in Jerusalem began a project to document Palestinian art. When the Libyan ambassador in Jordan was asked about it, he said it had been lost or destroyed during the #القصف_الأمريكي of Qaddafi’s palace in 1986. - In 2005, after losing hope of finding it, the artist made a third version of it. - In the third version there is a minor alteration: the painting’s size was doubled, the shape of the rope was changed from twisted to a rope resembling a strip of fabric, and he added the shape of #كنيسة_القيامة beside the Dome of the Rock. - The third and final version was sold through a public auction to the #متحف_رمزي_دلول in Beirut, where it remains to this day.
Translated from Arabic#Good_Morning_Goodness_Love_and_Life Good morning to Jeddah, celebrating the victory of its symbol and its sea's brother. . . And remember: "Three debts whose bearer does not die until they are collected from him: disobedience to parents, violation of rights, and gloating over the afflicted!"
Translated from Arabic