BOONE—The work of Appalachian State University professor William M. Hutchins is included in The Society of Authors list of outstanding translations from the past 50 years.
Hutchins is a professor in Appalachian’s Department of Philosophy and Religion. He was the principal translator of “Cairo Trilogy,” written by the late Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz. Printed in English by Random House in 2001, the book is included on the list of the best translations.
“It’s a really important book,” Hutchins said of the trilogy. “Mahfouz is the only Arabic author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. His book is a very sensitive portrait of an Egyptian family and Egypt making the transition from a fairly traditional life to a quite modern, international life.”
Hutchins has been translating the works of Arabic writers since the mid-1970s, so many, in fact, he’s sometimes at a loss as to just how many. A check of his academic resume shows more than 23 book-length translations to date, including five this year alone.
Most of his translations are published by American University in Cairo Press. Hutchins works closely with authors as needed to translate subtleties and nuances in the Arabic language, and he sends some authors translated chapters by e-mail for review.
Middle eastern-American authors such as Khaled Hosseini who wrote “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” are better known among U.S. readers, but Hutchins considers the writings of lesser-known Arabic authors more authentic.
Hutchins has worked with several Iraqi authors, including Fadhil al-Azzawi who wrote “The Last of the Angels” set in the Iraqi city Kirkuk, and Mohammed Khudayyir who wrote: Basrayatha: A Portrait of a City.”
Hutchins is currently translating “Isma’il’s Stages” by the Iraqi Abd al-Khaliq al-Rikabi. His next project is a collection of short stories by the Kuwaiti author Fatima Yusuf al-Ali.
“To get the translation right, I have to understand the history and culture of an area as well as the language,” he said.
He has a sense of satisfaction in helping bring the works of Arabic authors to the English reader. “That’s what it’s about – giving an English-language megaphone to authors,” Hutchins said of his work. “It is really satisfying work.”
In an acknowledgment in his translation of “The Last of the Angels,” Hutchins writes that “each of the translations – even though the original works are not my books – becomes part of me.”
