The Kalima Project for Translation, part of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), has recently published an Arabic translation of a collection of poetry and prose pieces by renowned Mexican author Alfonso Reyes.
The collection was translated from Spanish by Syrian poet Krasiah Al Awad, while Iraqi poet and academic Kadhim Jihad reviewed the translation and penned a critical study for the introduction.
The book compiles a selection of the author’s most prominent creative and intellectual works. It features his renowned piece ‘Visión de Anáhuac’ (Vision of Anáhuac), which recounts the story of Mexico when it was inhabited solely by its indigenous peoples, exactly as the Spanish conquistadors discovered it upon their arrival. It also includes the short story ‘La Cena’ (The Supper), which offers an example of the author’s narrative style and imaginative approach.
The book also contains two essays that highlight Reyes’s importance as a reference for modern thinkers on language and literature in Mexican culture. In ‘Apolo o de la Literatura’ (Apollo or On Literature), he addresses fundamental issues related to literature, while in his study titled ‘De la Lengua Vulgar’ (On the Vernacular Language), he offers observations aimed at driving language towards renewal and continuity.
The translation also includes the poetic play ‘Ifigenia Cruel’ (Cruel Iphigenia), which reflects the depth of his poetic sensibility and literary philosophy. The anthology concludes with a selection of poems considered among the finest examples of Mexican poetry in the first half of the 20th century.
Alfonso Reyes (1889-1959) is regarded as one of the pre-eminent architects of modern Mexican and Latin American literature. He began writing in the early 20th century and maintained an active and diverse literary output until his death. Recognised as a pioneer of modern Mexican literature, he made significant contributions to the renewal of literary writing in Latin America.
Reyes possessed multiple talents and contributed to various literary genres. He excelled in poetry, fiction, intellectual essays, literary critique, and translation, leaving behind a prolific and important body of work across all these fields. He earned the title of a creative literary figure, combining the rigorous scholarship of a polymath with the brilliance of an expert critic.
The book’s translator, Krasiah Al Awad, is a Syrian poet residing in Argentina, who published her first poetry collection in Spanish in 2008. Her work was featured in a play that won several Argentine awards, and she is currently preparing to publish her second poetry collection.
Al Awad has translated a selection of contemporary Argentine poetry under the title ‘Tango y la Plata de la Palabra’ (Tango and the Silver of Speech), as well as a short story collection titled ‘Dulce Enemiga Mía’ (My Sweet Enemy) by Marcela Serrano, and a novel by Argentine author Rodolfo Fogwill translated under the title ‘The Message of the Last Pawn’.
For the Kalima Project for Translation, Al Awad translated this compilation of poetry and prose pieces by Alfonso Reyes, along with the novel ‘El Libro Vacío’ (The Empty Book) by Mexican author Josefina Vicens.
