22 November 2010 By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid The Arabic literature market is full of letters and
translations that are simply the product of someone's
imagination. The bulk of these publications were
written prior to the time of the internet, which has
opened the world for us, making it easy for anyone
wishing to investigate the accuracy of any allegation
or fact. When Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah party
leader, read a letter during his recent address,
believing that it was sent by [former US Secretary of
State] Henry Kissinger to Lebanese leader Rimon Edah,
it was clear that Nasrallah had quoted a false text, a
letter that neither Kissinger had written, nor Edah
had received. It turned out that my colleague,
Professor Salim Nassar, not Henry Kissinger, was the
one who wrote the letter, as a means of imagining how
the U.S. minister would have thought at the time. It is true that most of what Nasrallah said in his
address that day was full of fallacies and misquotes,
but I do not think that he made such a mistake
intentionally, because it was so easy to detect, and
Nasrallah has previously misquoted other people such
as Jacque Chirac, and George Bush. In the modern era,
it has become easy to monitor all that is written.
Overt correspondence between political officials can
be reviewed by browsing official archives, referring
to Foreign Ministries, and consulting books written by
senior politicians. Regarding the case of Nasrallah, I
think he wanted to support his weak statements with
strong arguments and evidence. Unfortunately, he was
let down by his own staff, who provided him with the
wrong information, something that could happen at any
political office. Readers may be surprised to learn about the amount
of forgery and falsification that comes with quoting
and translating into Arabic. Numerous memoirs and
significant political publications have been
translated into Arabic, but they have been "adapted",
in a manner that misrepresents the source text. A
translator may interfere, by omitting what he regards
as inappropriate or inconsistent with his political
trends. It surprised me to learn that some western authors,
not only Arabs, when printing a text that has been
translated into Arabic, are also keen to omit basic
paragraphs, under the pretext that they want their
book to appeal to the Arab market. Such a pretext is
completely unjustifiable, as omitting basic
information is an act of fraud against the reader. For
example, an author may seem to criticise Israel,
whereas in the English version he might blame
Hezbollah or the Palestinian Authority. However, he
would opt to omit these paragraphs [in the Arabic
version], either to circumvent official censorship, or
to avoid damaging his relations with the Arabs around
him. There is also a third category of such selective
translation; namely Arab authors who compile history
books, relying on selective quotes from western
publications. Senior Arab writers, such as Mohamed
Hassanein Heikal, are guilty of this, and he may
justify his choice on the basis that he chooses only
what he regards as appropriate and supportive of his
narrative. Yet, as far as historical integrity is
concerned, the story remains an incomplete one. A forth category relates to translated books, which
have not gained positive reviews in their native
markets, but are then sold in Arab markets as if they
were written by reliable sources. In the West, just as
in Arab markets, there are respected authors and
institutions of great credibility, yet there are also
lightweight writers, with a tendency to sensationalise,
with no aim other than to ensure quick sales. Nasrallah being fooled by a letter from ‘Kissinger'
is one of many cases involving false literature, which
is abundant in Arab markets, and which fools most of
those who read it. Unfortunately, such books and
stories shape the modern Arab mentality of many of our
intellectuals, who often fail to distinguish between
facts and fiction, giving us a somewhat distorted
image of the world. Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of
Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass communications.
He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is currently based
in Dubai. Comments 💬 التعليقات |