Fictional Prophets: Islam and Literature in Egypt

This talk focuses on the intersections between literature, religion, and liberal ideology in 20th-century Egypt. Maya Issam Kesrouany draws on her recently published book Prophetic Translation: The Making of Modern Egyptian Literature to explore the legacies of the move from Qur’anic to secular approaches to literature in early 20th-century Egyptian literary translations. The talk asks what we can learn from that period and the promise that translation held for the Egyptian writers of fiction at that time.

Image credit: Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, UAE

Speakers

• Maya Kesrouany, Author of "Prophetic Translation: The Making of Modern Egyptian Literature" (Edinburgh University Press, 2019); Assistant Professor of Literature and Arab Crossroads Studies, NYUAD

Hosted by

• NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

In conversation with

• Robyn Creswell, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Yale University

In Collaboration with