Angry Voices
An Anthology of the Off-Beat
New Egyptian Poets

Translated, with an introduction, by Mohamed Enani
Compiled by Mohamed Metwalli

A preview of the future of Arabic poetry

A new movement is emerging in Egyptian literature—urban in its energies; cosmopolitan in its national, Arabic, and western influences; and independent and rowdy in its voice. For centuries, Arabic literature mandated traditional, unchanging, highly structured language and forms. In the 1960s and 1970s, writers rebelled to write in a variety of vernaculars. Now, young Egyptian poets are inventing new ways of writing. Rejecting both traditional Arabic formalism and the vernacular rebellion—and, contradictorily, drawing equally on these traditions and others—they radically combine and recombine influences and bring new experiences into their poetry. They embrace experimentation.

Rejected at first by the literary establishment, these poets founded their own magazines, one of which appropriated a derisive term that had been used to dismiss them: Locusts. Now one of Egypt's most honored translators and writers has joined with one of those Locusts to gather a selection of this postmodern writing in one place for the first time. With its edginess and play of styles, this collection showcases a dynamic, emergent scene.

"A superb and unprecedented translation of contemporary Arabic poetry from Egypt. This volume speaks to the contemporary Arabic cultural scene by juxtaposing poetries that have generated controversy—vernacular poems, prose poems, as well as new poems in the formal tongue—and by boldly, carefully, and elegantly presenting a range of poetry that has not always received warm welcome in its home territory."

—Marilyn Booth, translator of Nawal Sadawi's
Memoirs from the Women's Prison (California, 1994) and author of
May Her Likes Be Multiplied: Biography and Gender Politics in Egypt
(California, 2001)

"Enani's invaluable introduction provides the reader with essential information on the classical Arab poetic tradition vis-à-vis its practitioners on the one hand, and those who seek to break with it on the other. Not only English-speaking readers but also native Arabs not deeply immersed in their literary heritage will gain new understanding of the conflict between old and new."

—Dalia El-Shayal, Department of English, Cairo University

2003
6" X 9"
160 pages
$19.95 paper (s)
1-55728-743-0

Mohamed Enani is the founder and general editor of the State Publishing House's translation series Contemporary Arabic Literature, which comprises over one hundred translations. He is the editor of both Sutour, an international literary magazine, and the Egyptian Theater magazine. He has been a professor of English and chair of the English department at Cairo University and is the recipient of many honors and awards. Mohamed Metwalli, an editor and translator, is the co-founder and co-editor of Garad (Locusts) magazine.