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MARK LINZ A unique and longlasting legacy Denys Johnson-Davies, the pioneering translator of modern Arabic literature and culture, has created a unique and longlasting legacy in support of a wider and deeper understanding between the Arab world and the rest of the human community. For more than 60 years Denys has tirelessly translated and promoted the best of modern Arabic writing, from Egypt's Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz to countless other writers – new or established – across the Arab world, from Morocco to the Gulf. The American University in Cairo Press, now recognized as the world’s leading publisher of modern Arabic literature in translation, owes much of its publishing achievement to the relentless courage, competence, and commitment to quality Denys Johnson-Davies has shared with us over many years of close cooperation. As a publisher, engaged for less than 30 years in the Arabic publishing world, I salute Denys in gratitude and admiration for his magnificent contributions as the leading translator in his field, as a completely reliable collaborator, and as a wise and witty friend. Mark Linz is Director of the American University in Cairo Press 58 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
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PETER CLARK An enormous debt Denys Johnson-Davies has done more than anyone else to promote wider access to Arab literature in English translation. His career has been phenomenal. His first published translation was a volume of short stories by the Egyptian, Mahmud Taymur, in the 1940s. Since then thirty volumes of translation have appeared, mostly fiction, but also drama and some poetry. He has been a pioneer translator of the novels of Naguib Mahfouz and the poetry of Mahmud Darwish. During his life Denys has been a businessman, a lawyer, a broadcaster, a teacher, an Islamic scholar and a diplomat. But translating contemporary Arabic has always been his addiction. Born in Vancouver, Denys spent some of his childhood in the Sudan and was a precocious student of Arabic. He studied at the School of Oriental Studies, later SOAS, and then at Cambridge under E N Nicholson. He learned about the contemporary Arab world when he was employed by the BBC in the Arabic service during the World War II. For a long time British publishers were uninterested in his work as translator. In the 1960s he edited the Heinemann Arab Authors series, set up to follow the model of the very successful African Authors series. But the time was not right. In 1968 Oxford University Press published an anthology of his translations of Arab short stories. But it has been the American University in Cairo Press that has been the greatest sponsor of Arabic literature in translation in general and of Denys’s work in particular. Everyone interested in the contemporary Middle East, Arab and non-Arab alike, owes an enormous debt to Denys for his unprecedented contribution to widening and deepening an understanding of the modern Arab scene. Happy ninetieth birthday, Denys! Peter Clark is a writer and literary translator. BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 59

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MARK LINZ

A unique and longlasting legacy

Denys Johnson-Davies, the pioneering translator of modern Arabic literature and culture, has created a unique and longlasting legacy in support of a wider and deeper understanding between the Arab world and the rest of the human community.

For more than 60 years Denys has tirelessly translated and promoted the best of modern Arabic writing, from Egypt's Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz to countless other writers – new or established – across the Arab world, from Morocco to the Gulf.

The American University in Cairo Press, now recognized as the world’s leading publisher of modern Arabic literature in translation, owes much of its publishing achievement to the relentless courage, competence, and commitment to quality Denys Johnson-Davies has shared with us over many years of close cooperation.

As a publisher, engaged for less than 30 years in the Arabic publishing world, I salute Denys in gratitude and admiration for his magnificent contributions as the leading translator in his field, as a completely reliable collaborator, and as a wise and witty friend.

Mark Linz is Director of the American University in Cairo Press

58 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

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