Johnson-Davies, Denys 1922-

PERSONAL:

Born 1922, in Canada. Education: Studied at the University of Cambridge and the University of London.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Morocco.

CAREER:

Editor, translator, and author. Has worked as a businessman, lawyer, broadcaster, and diplomat, including for the British Broadcasting Corporation Arabic Service in London, England, and for the British Council in Cairo, Egypt; former teacher at the University of Cairo.

WRITINGS:

(Compiler and translator) Modern Arabic Short Stories, Oxford University Press (London, England), 1967.

(Translator, with Ezzeddin Ibrahim) An-Nawawi's Forty Hadith, 3rd edition, Holy Koran Publishing House (Damascus, Syria), 1977.

(Compiler and translator) Egyptian Short Stories, Three Continents (Washington, DC), 1978.

(Compiler and translator) Egyptian One-act Plays, Heinemann (London, England), 1981.

(Translator) Arabic Short Stories, Quartet Books (London, England), 1983, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1994.

(Translator) Alifa Riffat, Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories, Quartet Books (London, England), 1983.

(Translator) Zakaria Tamer, Tigers on the Tenth Day and Other Stories, Quartet Books (London, England), 1985.

(Translator) Yahya Taher Abdullah, The Mountain of Green Tea, American University in Cairo Press (Cairo, Egypt), 1991.

(Compiler and translator) Naguib Mahfouz, The Time and the Place and Other Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1991.

(Translator) Naguib Mahfouz, The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1992.

(Translator) Mohamed El-Bisatie, A Last Glass of Tea and Other Stories, American University in Cairo Press (Cairo, Egypt), 1994, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder, CO), 1998.

(Translator) Naguib Mahfouz, Arabian Nights and Days, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1994.

The Island of Animals (adapted from an Arabic fable), illustrated by Sabiha Khemir, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 1994.

(Translator) Tayeb Salih, Bandarshah, Kegan Paul (London, England), 1996.

(Translator) Naguib Mahfouz, Echoes of an Autobiography, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1997.

(Compiler and translator, with Ezzeddin Ibrahim) Abdul Wadoud, Forty Hadith Qudsi, Islamic Texts Society (Cambridge, England), 1997.

(Translator) Mohamed El-Bisatie, Houses behind the Trees, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 1998.

(Translator) Al-Ghazali on the Manners relating to Eating: Kitab Adab Al-akl, Book XI of the Revival of the Religious Sciences, Islamic Texts Society (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

(Compiler and translator) Under the Naked Sky: Short Stories from the Arab World, American University in Cairo Press (New York, NY), 2000, 2003.

The Fate of a Prisoner and Other Stories, Quartet Books (London, England), 2000.

(Translator and abridger, with Ezzeddin Ibrahim) Ibn Taymiyya, The Goodly Word, Islamic Texts Society (Cambridge, England), 2003.

(Translator) Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North, Penguin Books (London, England), 2003.

(Translator) Yahya Hakki, The Lamp of Umm Hashim: And Other Stories, American University in Cairo Press (New York, NY), 2004.

(Reteller) Goha the Wise Fool, illustrated by Hag Hamdy Mohamed Fattouh, Philomel Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Memories in Translation: A Life between the Lines of Arabic Literature, foreword by Naguib Mahfouz, American University in Cairo Press (New York, NY), 2006.

(Editor) The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Denys Johnson-Davies was born in Canada in 1922, but spent time in the Sudan as a child. The experience inspired him to begin studying Arabic in his teens, and ultimately to his serving as a conduit to bring Arabic culture and writing to the English-speaking world. When it was time for Johnson-Davies to go to university, he headed to Cambridge in order to further his Arabic studies, intent on working with R.A. Nicholson. As a result of his progress, the British Broadcasting Corporation Arabic Service in London recruited him. At the onset of World War II, Johnson-Davies moved to Cairo, Egypt. There he performed various jobs, including working for the British Council. However, it was his relationships with local writers that started him down the path to his life's work translating Arabic texts into English. He met the now-famous Arabic writer and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz and formed a lasting relationship, both as his friend and as a translator of his books. In addition, he began to translate works by writers such as the Egyptian short-story author Mahmud Taymur. As his reputation spread, so did his opportunities to translate for new authors, and ultimately he worked on texts by such talents as Zakaria Tamir, the Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih, and Palestinian author Mahmud Darwish. He also began to edit collections, serving not just as a translator but also as the person responsible for choosing the works included. Over the course of his career, he wrote a number of original works himself, some of which were likened in style and meter to the writings of native Arabic speakers. But the bulk of his time and attention went to translating, and he has been responsible for bringing nearly thirty works to the attention of the English-speaking public. Peter Clark, in a profile of Johnson-Davies for the Literary Translation Web site, noted that "his role in the history of cultural relations between Arab countries and the rest of the world is unique and unlikely ever to be repeated."

A Last Glass of Tea and Other Stories by Mohamed El-Bisatie was first published in Cairo in 1994, with an American edition appearing in 1998. Set on the Nile Delta, the stories offer readers a glimpse into a very different world, but with a sense of distance and separation. The reader is an observer, never a participant. David Masello, in a New York Times Book Review article on Johnson-Davies's translation, referred to the stories as "tantalizing tastes of this little-known region." World Literature Today contributor Ibrahim Dawood remarked that "translator Denys Johnson-Davies has succeeded both in selecting stories representative of El-Bisatie's fiction and in maintaining the spirit of the original Arabic texts."

Echoes of an Autobiography, the first of Naguib Mahfouz's works of nonfiction that Johnson-Davies translated into English, is a pastiche of stories, anecdotes and remembrances that gives readers an inside look at the workings of the writer's mind. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented on Mahfouz's "chiseled prose, pithy observations and devastating asides," a compliment to Johnson-Davies's abilities as a translator in capturing the author's writing style.

In Goha the Wise Fool, a book for young readers, Johnson-Davies sets out to retell the story of a Middle Eastern folk character. Goha's persona alters from tale to tale, and he can be seen as everything from fool to wise man. The book combines more familiar stories that are reminiscent of tales from other cultures with those that are less well known. Johnson-Davies includes a note that discusses the multicultural aspect of the character and how different countries claim to have been responsible for his origins. In a review for School Library Journal, Wendy Lukehart found that the collection features "interesting cultural insights about a part of the world unknown to many in the Western Hemisphere, while yielding universal truths." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews pronounced the book "a delightful introduction to the folklore of a region with a fascinating endnote."

Johnson-Davies's own book, Memories in Translation: A Life between the Lines of Arabic Literature, takes a look back at his life and career. It shows how much of his direction was determined by the off chance of having the opportunity to spend time in the Sudan as a child. That early exposure to the Arabic language led him to continue his study of that language rather than taking the standard route of a well-educated English schoolboy, which would have been merely to study Latin and/or ancient Greek. As a result of chance, he slipped easily into his role as a major force in English-Arabic translation, an opportunity that was very much determined by his having been in the right place at the right time and allowing his own interest to guide his decisions. Issa J. Boullata, in a review for World Literature Today, commented on that timeliness: "Johnson-Davies is not only an excellent and prolific translator to whom we are thankful, but he has been so when modern Arabic fiction has been enjoying a vibrant florescence after tentative beginnings in the first decades of the twentieth century."

The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, which Johnson-Davies edited, offers readers a wide range of different stories from Arabic writers, including folk tales, modern fables, satires, historical fiction, and stories of great battles. In a review for Kliatt, Daniel Levinson remarked that the volume might have been designed in such a way as to speak more directly to students of the culture, but observed of Johnson-Davies that he "knows his material inside and out." New York Times Book Review critic Robert F. Worth called the anthology "a much-needed guide to this world," though he pointed out that in compiling the volume Johnson-Davies might have been overly inclusive, since the book includes contributions from nearly eighty writers from fourteen countries. Worth went on to note that "many of the translations (along with an excellent introduction) are by Johnson-Davies, perhaps the most distinguished Arabic-to-English translator now living."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Johnson-Davies, Denys, Memories in Translation: A Life between the Lines of Arabic Literature, foreword by Naguib Mahfouz, American University in Cairo Press (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Booklinks, January 1, 2006, Laura Tillotson, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 32; September, 2006, Mary M. Erbach, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 47; September 1, 2007, Floyd C. Dickman, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 47.

Booklist, September 1, 1992, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, p. 32; October 15, 1994, Brad Hooper, review of Arabian Nights and Days, p. 372; June 1, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 1797.

Books, November 19, 2006, Elizabeth Taylor, review of The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, p. 2.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 2005, Hope Morrison, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 140.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, January, 1993, K.I.H. Semaan, review of The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, p. 803; October, 1998, W.L. Hanaway, review of A Last Glass of Tea andOther Stories, p. 310; July, 2007, W.L. Hanaway, review of The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, p. 1908.

Christian Science Monitor, January 26, 1995, Merle Rubin, review of Arabian Nights and Days, p. 1.

Horn Book, September 1, 2005, Martha V. Parravano, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 593.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2005, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 851.

Kliatt, March, 2007, Daniel Levinson, review of The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, p. 30.

Library Journal, June 15, 1984, review of Arabic Short Stories, p. 1250; October 1, 1985, L.M. Lewis, review of Tigers on the Tenth Day and Other Stories, p. 117; May 15, 1991, Kenneth Mintz, review of The Time and the Place and Other Stories, p. 109.

New York Times Book Review, September 22, 1985, Michael Beard, review of Tigers on the Tenth Day and Other Stories, p. 22; July 23, 1989, David Pryce-Jones, review of Season of Migration to the North, p. 15.

Publishers Weekly, April 27, 1984, review of Arabic Short Stories, p. 72; August 26, 1988, Sybil Steinberg, review of Season of Migration to the North, p. 76; May 24, 1991, review of The Time and the Place and Other Stories, p. 44; July 20, 1992, review of The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, p. 228; May 9, 1994, review of The Island of Animals, p. 69; October 31, 1994, review of Arabian Nights and Days, p. 43; November 11, 1996, review of Echoes of an Autobiography, p. 66; September 12, 2005, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 68.

School Library Journal, August, 1994, Patricia Dooley, review of The Island of Animals, p. 177; August, 2005, Wendy Lukehart, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 114; October, 2005, review of Goha the Wise Fool, p. 36.

Spectator, November 20, 1999, review of Fate of a Prisoner and Other Stories, p. 46.

Times Literary Supplement, March 10, 1995, Rasheed El-Enany, review of Arabian Nights and Days, p. 23; May 18, 2001, Peter Clark, review of Under the Naked Sky: Short Stories from the Arab World, p. 23; December 19, 2003, "Strange Stories about Africa: Tayeb Salih's Novel of London and the Sudan," p. 25.

Washington Post Book World, November 5, 2006, Rachel Hartigan Shea, review of The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, p. 11.

World Literature Today, spring, 1999, Ibrahim Dawood, review of A Last Glass of Tea and Other Stories; May 1, 2007, Issa J. Boullata, review of Memories in Translation: A Life between the Lines of Arabic Literature, p. 78; July 1, 2007, Alan Cheuse, review of The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, p. 5.

ONLINE

Literary Translation Web site,http://www.literarytranslation.com/ (January 9, 2008), Peter Clark, "Arabic Translation: Denys Johnson-Davies."

New York Times Book Review Online,http://www.nytimes.com/ (June 28, 1998), David Masello, review of A Last Glass of Tea and Other Stories; (November 26, 2006), Robert F. Worth, "One Language, Many Voices," review of The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction.