Abu Dhabi (Al Ittihad)
The Kalima project for translation at the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi issued the Arabic translation of the novel “The Knight on the Roof” by French writer Jean Giono.
This book is published as part of four large selected works of French pandemic literature, chosen by Kazem Jihad and whose translations are issued by the “Kalima” project. Political Mosquitoes » by Eric Orsena and Isabelle de Saint-Auban.
And “The Knight on the Roof” is a novel whose chapters grow in light of two major events: the spread of the cholera pandemic in the Provence region in 1830, and the refuge of some of the revolutionaries participating in the Italian Piedmontese uprising to the south of France. In light of these two events, interesting dialogues, rich repercussions, and an epic narration of struggles and adventures that give the novel all its human dimension and deep philosophy come to us.
According to the reviewer’s introduction, Angelo passes through a nature that has lost its cool. In many of his dialogues, as well as in his monologues to himself, he excels at portraying the impact of the pandemic and its horrific concealment: “Something we do not know grabs you by your ears as if you were a rabbit in a cage, and strikes you on the back of your neck, and your matter is over. There is no way for you to relax in a comfortable position.”
Intentionally – and speaking to the translation reviewer – the writer departs from the literal reality of the pandemic, making Angelo escape from infection despite his contact with many individuals and his contribution to washing the victims of the epidemic. It is as if the writer’s message is that the epidemic affects those who are ready to be infected, and that good intentions and strength of determination enable their owner to pass the pandemic safely. What is important, in his belief, is to escape from the clutches of the other epidemic that results in the cholera epidemic, and every epidemic, which is the death of the spirit and values and the prevalence of selfishness and trafficking in the generalized fear of the pandemic. And here lies the symbolic and intellectual dimension of this novel. It is a metaphor for the horrors of war and its corrupting effect on souls, given by Giono epic proportions.
The author of the novel, Jean Giono (1895-1970), is a writer from the south of France. He lived most of his life in the village of Manosque, and made it the scene of many of his novels.
As for the translator of the book into Arabic, Abu Bakr Al-Ayadi, he is a Tunisian immigrant writer and translator, born in 1949 in Jendouba, and has resided in France since 1988. He has published six novels and seven collections of short stories, and has written books in French inspired by the Arab narrative heritage and Tunisian folk tales, and translated works into Arabic. from world literature.
