Children of Gebelaawi (4 page)

on which the drug is placed with glowing charcoals, down to

the bottom of the water in the reservoir, and a bamboo pipe

draws the smoke up to the smoker's lips.

I have taken slight liberties with some of the foods and

drinks, replacing them with the nearest equivalent familiar

outside the Arab world. Buza is translated as 'ale'; it is an

illegally brewed drink, based on stale bread soaked in water.

Proper names have presented the most difficult problem,

and several solutions have been adopted side by side. Place

names have been given a standard guidebook spelling, except

that the jebel ofjebel Muqattam has been speltwith aj i n order

to retain the form familiar in English .Jebel, usually translated

'mountain', is such an important word in the book that the

Arabic form has been preferred; 'mountain' in any case has

the wrong associations for readers from more humid countries; besides, Jebel Muqauam rises only a few hundred feet above the level of Cairo.

Given names have usually been transliterated, using a

system that reflects standard Arabic pronunciation. Most readers will not want to be bothered with the fact that in Cairoj and Q are replaced by G and the glottal stop.J can be pronounced

as i n 'jam ' and Qas a throaty variety ofK. Most long vowels have

been represented by doubled letters: AA as in 'bazaar', EE as

in 'beet', 00 as in 'boot'. Departures from the strict system

have been allowed in a number of cases. In particular, G

replaces] in the names Gebel and Gebelaawi, i n order to avoid

confusion in the many puns on Gebel and the jebel. Narjis has

been spelt Narciss to recall the corresponding flower name.

Most nicknames have been translated, with a great deal of

freedom. They constitu te almost the only comic element i n an

otherwise serious book (though it is often sinister comedy) ,

and to fail to translate them would be a loss for the reader,

besides depriving the translator of a rare opportu nity for some

amusement. Note that the spelling of 'Bullrush' is deliberate;

XX

Introduction

the Arabic has the meani ng of impetuosity as well as a botanical sense. The name 'Omnibus' is particularly interesting; the obsolete colloquial word 'Swaars' is from Herr Schwartz, who

gave his name to the horse-drawn omnibus service that he

established i n Cairo in the mid-Nineteenth Century.

The most difficult problem is posed by the names of the

main heroes and heroi nes, all of which have meanings and

overtones. It would be possible to translate them, in the style

of Pilgrim's Progress, but all semblance of realism would be lost.

The solution adopted has been where possible to supply

nicknames, spari ngly used usually by an enemy or a neutral

figure: 'Blacky' Adh am; 'Little Mother' Umayma; 'Master Upi n-the-Air' Rifaa; 'Mr Know-All' Arafa; 'Passion-Flower' Awaatif.

Others have defeated me: 1-Iumaam (noble) ; Qadri (fateful) ;

Qaasim (distributor, alotter of fates, decider) , which also

echoes the parenting-name of the Prophet Muhammad, Abu

Qaasim, after his deceased infantson Qaasim ; Qamar ( ' moon ' ) ;

Bad ria (from badr, 'full moon ' and name of the first victory of

the Muslims over the polytheists). ldrees rhymes with lblees

(Diabolus) , the Islamic name of the Fallen Angel Lucifer, and

Qindeel withjibreel (Gabriel) , the name of the archangel who

transmitted the Holy Koran.

I have retai ned the 'continental' punctuation of dialogue

favoured by Mahfouz (and before him by English-speaking

writers such as james joyce) . It makes clear on the page the

structure and dramatic vividness of the dialogue, and it does

away with the usual sandstorm of inverted commas.

.x.xi

From the AI Abram edition, episode 55,

printed on 14th November 1959 (Chapter 66)

Words missing from the other edition are underlined: words differ-

ent from the other edition are circled .

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