A minor yet important play by the late Egyptian literary legend Naguib Mahfouz received its first English reading by NYU Abu Dhabi students at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.
The plot of The Jinni Speaks, which was written in the mid-1970s, is inspired by The City of Brass, a story from Thousand and One Nights. It follows three Arab travellers who attempt to rescue a cursed city from destruction.
Paulo Horta, the NYU Abu Dhabi assistant professor of literature, who read as one of the travellers, said the project started last year after one his students took on the task of translating the play from Arabic to English.
“This year I am teaching the course Adaptation Across Media and some of our students who are film and theatre majors wanted to do a reading or production of the play,” he says. “So this is all a nice collaboration between translation and adaptation.”
While The Jinni Speaks didn’t receive the same recognition as those of Mahfouz’s other novels, Horta says it played a significant role in developing Mahfouz’s writing craft.
“Recent scholarship has shown that Mahfouz often turned to screenplays and drama plays for ways to explore ideas that would then go in his novels,” he says. “After he wrote The Jinni Speaks he wrote Arabian Night and Days, a novel which explored similar themes.”
Horta says there are plans to use the newly translated play in other courses at NYU Abu Dhabi and to publish the translation.
• The Abu Dhabi Dhabi International Book Fair runs until tomorrow at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center. For details go to www.adbookfair.com
* Saeed Saeed
sasaeed@thenational.ae
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Install an air filter in your home.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Top financial tips for graduates
Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at the Gabba
Australia 312-1
Warner 151 not out, Burns 97, Labuschagne 55 not out
Pakistan 240
Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52