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شهرزاد تعود: القصة العربية القصيرة المعاصرة
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384 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 1989
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7 people want to read
About the author
Mohammad Shaheen
29 books3 followersMohammad Youssef Shaheen was a Jordanian scholar, literary critic, translator and professor of English literature. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of literary studies in Jordan.
Shaheen taught English literature at the University of Jordan from 1985 onward and published extensively in both Arabic and English. He held several key academic and administrative positions, including Chair of the English Department and editor-in-chief of Al-Majallah Al-Thaqafeyyah, the University of Jordan's cultural journal, as well as Editor-in-Chief of Mu’tah Journal for Research. In addition to his academic work, Shaheen translated selected poetry by Mahmoud Darwish into English.
Mohammad Shaheen devoted several of his scholarly works to the analysis of Edward Said’s intellectual legacy, with particular emphasis on the challenges of translating Orientalism (1978) and the resulting misinterpretations that emerged across various levels of understanding. In addition, he paid close attention to the literary contributions on Tayeb Salih, examining Season of Migration to the North (1966) through the lens of postcolonial literature. His analysis highlighted the novel’s significant impact on the development of modern Arabic narrative, both in terms of its construction of a mythologized protagonist and its innovative narrative structure.
He received numerous honors in recognition of his academic contributions, including the Order of Independence (First Class) in 2002, the State Appreciation Award in Literature in 2011, and the Philadelphia Award for Translation in 2005. Shaheen was widely known for his interest in translation and modern literary criticism, and some of his works were translated into other languages. He passed away on 30 June 2025 at the age of 87, after a distinguished academic career spanning over six decades.
In his administrative career, Shaheen served as Assistant to the President of the University of Jordan from 1978 to 1980. He later became Vice President of Mutah University, a post he held for four years from 1998 to 2002. Between 1985 and 1989, he also worked as an advisor at the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education.
Shaheen took part in the Fifth Cairo International Forum for the Arabic Novel, where he was honored by Egypt’s Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosny. He also served as a member of the jury for the Third Cairo International Festival for Arabic Poetry in 2013. In a 2017 interview, Shaheen remarked that translation was among the factors contributing to the decline of modern Arabic poetry.
Shaheen earned his doctorate in English literature from the University of Cambridge, and was widely recognized for his contributions to postcolonial literary studies. Among his most notable works is the book E.M. Forster and the Politics of Imperialism.
Shaheen taught English literature at the University of Jordan from 1985 onward and published extensively in both Arabic and English. He held several key academic and administrative positions, including Chair of the English Department and editor-in-chief of Al-Majallah Al-Thaqafeyyah, the University of Jordan's cultural journal, as well as Editor-in-Chief of Mu’tah Journal for Research. In addition to his academic work, Shaheen translated selected poetry by Mahmoud Darwish into English.
Mohammad Shaheen devoted several of his scholarly works to the analysis of Edward Said’s intellectual legacy, with particular emphasis on the challenges of translating Orientalism (1978) and the resulting misinterpretations that emerged across various levels of understanding. In addition, he paid close attention to the literary contributions on Tayeb Salih, examining Season of Migration to the North (1966) through the lens of postcolonial literature. His analysis highlighted the novel’s significant impact on the development of modern Arabic narrative, both in terms of its construction of a mythologized protagonist and its innovative narrative structure.
He received numerous honors in recognition of his academic contributions, including the Order of Independence (First Class) in 2002, the State Appreciation Award in Literature in 2011, and the Philadelphia Award for Translation in 2005. Shaheen was widely known for his interest in translation and modern literary criticism, and some of his works were translated into other languages. He passed away on 30 June 2025 at the age of 87, after a distinguished academic career spanning over six decades.
In his administrative career, Shaheen served as Assistant to the President of the University of Jordan from 1978 to 1980. He later became Vice President of Mutah University, a post he held for four years from 1998 to 2002. Between 1985 and 1989, he also worked as an advisor at the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education.
Shaheen took part in the Fifth Cairo International Forum for the Arabic Novel, where he was honored by Egypt’s Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosny. He also served as a member of the jury for the Third Cairo International Festival for Arabic Poetry in 2013. In a 2017 interview, Shaheen remarked that translation was among the factors contributing to the decline of modern Arabic poetry.
Shaheen earned his doctorate in English literature from the University of Cambridge, and was widely recognized for his contributions to postcolonial literary studies. Among his most notable works is the book E.M. Forster and the Politics of Imperialism.
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December 1, 2021
Not a Typical Anthology
This book was published in 1989, with a revised version in 2002. The latter was the one I read. The first half of the book contained a brief survey of conditions faced in the 1960s and 70s by short story writers in the Arab world, mainly in Egypt, as well as long commentaries on the pieces anthologized in the rest of the book. The stories appeared at the end, and comprised fewer than half the total pages.
There were 15 works by 14 writers mainly from Egypt, Palestine and Syria, as well as Iraq and Kuwait. The pieces included a short play written in the 1930s, three poems written in the 1950s and 60s, and short stories, most of which were from the 1960s and 70s. Capsule biographies for the authors were omitted, and in some cases it was unclear where the writers were from, even though the editor said that some of them weren’t well known.
Among the problems mentioned during the 1960s and 70s were the oppressive effects of censorship and the accompanying lack of responsible publishers and critics. (The revised edition, published in 2002, said the censorial atmosphere remained.) The editor suggested that stories in the collection drew on folktales and allegory in part to evade censors’ restrictions.
All the works contained themes or heroes from folktales of the region, which were chosen to support the editor’s argument that the modern Arabic short story was “not altogether an imitation of the Western genre.” Many of the works incorporated Sindbad, a hero drawn from the Persian/Arabic classic, The Book of the 1,001 Nights. This might have been one reason the book was subtitled “Shahrazad Returns,” referring to the legendary storyteller of the Nights.
For me, the most interesting piece was the short play written in the 1930s by Michael Aflaq, who later co-founded the socialist, nationalist Baath Party. Rather than portray Sindbad as an adventurous hero, it showed him as an old man at the end of his life, mocked by his neighbors for having neglected his family, wandered the world and squandered his wealth. Another story, “Antarah Ibn Zabibah,” by Faysal Khartash, took a legendary hero from the pre-Islamic era and moved him into the region in modern times, where he was arrested and broken for criticizing the government; he ended up wandering around a city, reciting poetry in cafes and scribbling his name on walls. Too many of the other pieces were rather hard to follow or understand, though the commentaries helped to an extent.
Both the editor’s writing and, I think, the stories assumed a certain level of familiarity both with characters in Arabic folklore and the situation in the 1960s and 70s. Particularly in the editor’s conclusion, such familiarity might have allowed some statements to be better understood. In the conclusion, for example, he criticized another translator’s statement that “Marxist commitment and existentialism are two attitudes which continue to bedevil Arab fiction today,” without saying specifically what in it was objectionable.
Overall, I think readers with greater knowledge about and interest in folklore-based writing would enjoy this book better than I was able to.
This book was published in 1989, with a revised version in 2002. The latter was the one I read. The first half of the book contained a brief survey of conditions faced in the 1960s and 70s by short story writers in the Arab world, mainly in Egypt, as well as long commentaries on the pieces anthologized in the rest of the book. The stories appeared at the end, and comprised fewer than half the total pages.
There were 15 works by 14 writers mainly from Egypt, Palestine and Syria, as well as Iraq and Kuwait. The pieces included a short play written in the 1930s, three poems written in the 1950s and 60s, and short stories, most of which were from the 1960s and 70s. Capsule biographies for the authors were omitted, and in some cases it was unclear where the writers were from, even though the editor said that some of them weren’t well known.
Among the problems mentioned during the 1960s and 70s were the oppressive effects of censorship and the accompanying lack of responsible publishers and critics. (The revised edition, published in 2002, said the censorial atmosphere remained.) The editor suggested that stories in the collection drew on folktales and allegory in part to evade censors’ restrictions.
All the works contained themes or heroes from folktales of the region, which were chosen to support the editor’s argument that the modern Arabic short story was “not altogether an imitation of the Western genre.” Many of the works incorporated Sindbad, a hero drawn from the Persian/Arabic classic, The Book of the 1,001 Nights. This might have been one reason the book was subtitled “Shahrazad Returns,” referring to the legendary storyteller of the Nights.
For me, the most interesting piece was the short play written in the 1930s by Michael Aflaq, who later co-founded the socialist, nationalist Baath Party. Rather than portray Sindbad as an adventurous hero, it showed him as an old man at the end of his life, mocked by his neighbors for having neglected his family, wandered the world and squandered his wealth. Another story, “Antarah Ibn Zabibah,” by Faysal Khartash, took a legendary hero from the pre-Islamic era and moved him into the region in modern times, where he was arrested and broken for criticizing the government; he ended up wandering around a city, reciting poetry in cafes and scribbling his name on walls. Too many of the other pieces were rather hard to follow or understand, though the commentaries helped to an extent.
Both the editor’s writing and, I think, the stories assumed a certain level of familiarity both with characters in Arabic folklore and the situation in the 1960s and 70s. Particularly in the editor’s conclusion, such familiarity might have allowed some statements to be better understood. In the conclusion, for example, he criticized another translator’s statement that “Marxist commitment and existentialism are two attitudes which continue to bedevil Arab fiction today,” without saying specifically what in it was objectionable.
Overall, I think readers with greater knowledge about and interest in folklore-based writing would enjoy this book better than I was able to.
Displaying 1 of 1 review