Issa J. Boullata (‎; February 25, 1929 – May 1, 2019) was a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

scholar, writer, and translator of

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

Biography

He was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

on February 25, 1929 during the British Mandate of Palestine. He obtained a First Class BA (Honours) in Arabic and Islamic studies in 1964 followed by a PhD in Arabic literature in 1969, both from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He taught Arabic studies for seven years at

Hartford Seminary The Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary) is a private theological university in Hartford, Connecticut. History Hartford Seminary's origins date back to 1833 when the Pastoral Union of Connecti ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, before moving to

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, Montreal, in 1975.Profile in Words without Borders website
/ref> He taught graduate courses in Arabic Literature, Modern Arab Thought, and Qur'anic Studies at McGill's Institute of Islamic Studies until his retirement in 2004, and the honorific title of Emeritus Professor was conferred upon him on September 1, 2009. Boullata was the author of books on

and poetry, and on the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

. He also wrote articles and book reviews for scholarly journals, as well as articles for encyclopedias. He was a translator of Arabic literature and a two-time winner of the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award. He was a contributing editor of

Banipal ''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three ti ...

magazine of London, and his literary translations have appeared in issues of the magazine. Boullata served as consultant for "The Blue Metropolis Al-Majidi Ibn Dhaher Arab Literary Prize" offered by the Blue Metropolis Foundation at its annual international literary festival in Montreal. Named after the poet Al-Majidi Ibn Dhaher, the prize, worth CAD $5,000, was initiated in 2007 by his efforts with donors. The prize was sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, and was given yearly to a creative Arab writer at the recommendation of a jury composed of an international roster of poets, novelists and literary professionals. The prize is currently on hiatus. Marita Seward, of Oneonta, New York, was Boullata's wife for 56 years. She died on 15 August 2016. The couple had one daughter and three sons, including David Boullata, a broadcaster (pseudonym: David Tyler) in Montreal, communications lecturer, and writer. Kamal Boullata, a painter, art historian, and literary writer, is Issa Boullata's brother and lives in Berlin, Germany.

Books

As author

* ''Outlines of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

Modern Arabic Poetry Arabic poetry ( ''ash-shi‘r al-‘arabīyy'') is one of the earliest forms of Arabic literature. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry contains the bulk of the oldest poetic material in Arabic, but Old Arabic inscriptions reveal the art of poetry existed i ...

'' (1960), new edition (2014) (in Arabic الرومانسية ومعالمها في الشعر العربي الحديث) * ''

Badr Shakir al-Sayyab Badr Shakir al-Sayyab () (December 24, 1926 in Jaykur, Basra – December 24, 1964 in Kuwait) was an Iraqi poet, regarded as one of the most important contemporary Arab poets. Alongside Nazik Al Malaika, he is considered one of the founders of A ...

: His Life and Poetry'' (1971; 6th ed. 2007) (in Arabic بدر شاكر السياب : حياته وشعره) * ''Modern Arab Poets, 1950–1975'' (1976) (an anthology in English translation) * ''Trends and Issues in Contemporary Arab Thought'' (1990) * ''A Window on

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

: Studies in the Works of

Jabra Ibrahim Jabra Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (28 August 1919 – 12 December 1994) () was an Iraqi-Palestinian author, artist and intellectual born in Adana in French-occupied Cilicia to a Syriac Orthodox Christian family. His family survived the Seyfo Genocide and f ...

'' (2002) (in Arabic نافذة على الحداثة: دراسات في أدب جبرا إبراهيم جبرا ) * ''Homecoming to Jerusalem'' (1998) (a novel in Arabic عائد إلى القدس) * ''A Retired Gentleman and Other Stories'' (2007) (a short-story collection in English); republished as ''True Arab Love and Other Short Stories'' (2016); translated into French as ''Amours Arabes'' (2016) * ''Rocks and a Wisp of Soil'' (2005) (in Arabic صخر وحفنة من تراب : مقالات في النقد الأدبي ),(essays in literary criticism) * ''The Bells of Memory: A Palestinian Boyhood in Jerusalem'' (2014)( a memoir, covering years from 1929 to 1948); translated into French as ''Les Échos de la Mémoire: Une Enfance Palestinienne à Jérusalem''(2014).

As editor

* ''Critical Perspectives on Modern Arabic Literature'' (1980) * ''Tradition and

Modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the ...

in Arabic Literature'' (1997, with

Terri DeYoung Terri is an alternative spelling of Terry. It is a feminine given name and is also a diminutive for Teresa. Notable people with the name include: *Terri Allard (born 1962), American country/folk singer/songwriter * Terri S. Armstrong, American s ...

) * ''Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the

'' (2000) * ''The Miraculous Inimitability of the Holy Qur'an throughout History'' (2006) (in Arabic إعجاز القرآن الكريم عـبر التاريخ)

As translator

* ''Embers and Ashes: Memoirs of an Arab Intellectual'' by

Hisham Sharabi Hisham Sharabi () (1927 Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine – 2005 Beirut, Lebanon) was a Palestinian historian and writer. He was Professor Emeritus of History and Umar al-Mukhtar Chair of Arab Culture at Georgetown University, where he was a specialis ...

* ''Flight Against Time'' a novel by

Emily Nasrallah Emily Daoud Nasrallah (; []; 6 July 1931 – 13 March 2018) was a Lebanese people, Lebanese writer and women's rights activist. She graduated from the Beirut College for Women (now the Lebanese American University) with an associate degree in ...

* ''Fugitive Light'' a novel by

Mohammed Berrada Mohammed Berrada (), also transliterated Muhammad Baradah (born 1938 in Rabat) is a Moroccan novelist, literary critic and translator writing in Arabic. He is considered one of Morocco's most important modern authors.Salim Jay, "Dictionnaire des ...

* ''My Life'' an autobiography by

Ahmad Amin Ahmad Amin (Arabic: أحمد أمين), (1954-1886) was an Egyptian historian and writer. He wrote a series of books on the history of the Islamic civilization (1928–1953), a famous autobiography (''My Life'', 1950), as well as an important d ...

* ''Princesses' Street:

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Memories'' an autobiography by

* ''The First Well: A

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

Boyhood'' an autobiography by

(winner of the 1993 University of Arkansas Press Award for Translation from Arabic) * ''The Game of Forgetting'' a novel by

* ''The Square Moon'' short stories by

Ghada Samman Ghadah Al-Samman (; born 1942) is a Syrian writer, journalist and novelist born in Damascus in 1942 to a prominent and conservative Damascene family. Her father was Ahmed Al-Samman, a president of the University of Damascus. She is distantly rela ...

(winner of the 1997

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

Press Award) * ''The Unique Necklace'' a compendium of Arabic classics (Garnet Publishing, UK, vols. 1,2,3—2006,2009,2011) by 10th-century Andalusian writer

Ibn Abd Rabbih Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Rabbih (; 860–940) was an Arab writer and poet widely known as the author of ''al-ʿIqd al-Farīd'' (''The Unique Necklace''). Biography He was born in Cordova, now in Spain, and descended from a freed slave of ...

* ''The Caliph's Sister'', a novel by Jurji Zaidan * ''Three Treatises on the I`jaz of the Qur'an'', Qur'anic & literary studies by al-Rummani, al-Khattabi, & `Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani. * Numerous poems published in

Salma Khadra Jayyusi Salma Khadra Jayyusi (; 16 April 1925 – 20 April 2023) was a Palestinian poet, writer, translator and anthologist. She was the founder and director of the Project of Translation from Arabic (PROTA), which aims to provide translation of Arabic ...

's ''Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology'' (1987) and ''Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature'' (1992), and poems and prose pieces in

and elsewhere.

As translator from English to Arabic

* ''Wallace Stevens'' by William York Tindall, 1962 * ''Edith Wharton'' by

Louis Auchincloss Louis Stanton Auchincloss (; September 27, 1917 – January 26, 2010)Holcomb B. Noble and Charles McGrath''The New York Times''. Retrieved on January 27, 2010. was an American lawyer, novelist, historian, and essayist. He is best known as a novel ...

, 1962

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boullata, Issa J. 1929 births 2019 deaths Hartford Seminary faculty Academic staff of McGill University Palestinian scholars Writers from Jerusalem 21st-century Palestinian writers English–Arabic translators Palestinian translators Arabic–English translators 20th-century Palestinian writers Alumni of the University of London 20th-century translators Literary interpreters of the Quran

Biography

Books

As author

As editor

As translator

As translator from English to Arabic

See also

As journal editor

Festschrifts

Awards

As PhD and MA supervisor

As Arabic programming consultant

References