Fawwaz Haddad: The Unfaithful Translator

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In The Unfaithful Translator, the Syrian writer Fawwaz Haddad uses translation as a metaphor for all art, but without forgetting the earthly world and its ephemeral human beings, or that the arts aim at portraying life, dreams and desires

In The Unfaithful Translator, the Syrian writer Fawwaz Haddad uses translation as a metaphor for all art, but without forgetting the earthly world and its ephemeral human beings, or that the arts aim at portraying life, dreams and desires. In your latest novels, you dealt with the present or with where we have now reached. How does writing about the present differ from writing about the past? There is an unexpected difference in writing about the present. You really feel that you are writing something that has a strong relation to history, and it is as if what you are writing now may become, one day, a source of reference about this period; for you realise that you are not only writing for those who live now but for those who may read you many years later, and you have a feeling of responsibility towards them. It seems to me that you wish to record what is happening, as if you are afraid it will otherwise be forgotten. Additionally, there is an audacity, unprecedented in Syrian literature, to speak the truth in the face of political authority. What is the effect of that on art? Stagnating in tragedy is like relaxing in optimism. Not only do we have not to forget, but also to bring about a situation that will put an end to all that may be an impairment of people's rights. I don't know whether I have shown exceeding audacity. What I am sure of is that I have given my novels their full right, without considering what may happen to me, because I did not think of consequences. Art makes us say what we believe is true. One critic says that information is beautiful. Your novels are full of information and things to learn, and they show the great effort during the research and preparation. Talk about this stage in your writing. Every one of my novels has benefited from my research effort. Perhaps my novel Rancour and Passion was the work that required the greatest effort because of its many places, layers and lines of development; for it required research about the historical period of the middle 1950s in Syria. The events of this novel take place in Damascus, Beirut and Jerusalem and they extend to the Sinai Desert and St Catherine's monastery. In your novels and also in your speaking about novel writing generally, there is a big presence of the theatre. What is the relation of these two genres? I look at the world with the glasses of a novelist having a theatrical sensibility. This is why I imagined that I moved between various areas, meaning cities, each of which was not larger than a stage with its own decor and accessories. Damascus becomes a sort of theatre which people come to from the districts and the countryside in order to play their roles on it: conspiracies, coups d'état, deals, robbery, plundering. In The Unfaithful Translator, you seem to be ready to exploit the least reference to a character in order to open the files of this character. The movement from one topic to another, and from one character to another, seems to be one of your most important novelistic tools. It is as if you are searching for a point of weakness or a gap, from which you go to deeper levels that you want to explore. I began the novel with a simple event. It is natural that I should not remain captive to it, so I paved the way to go forth from it to the edges, the sides, the mysteries and the backgrounds. If the cultural environment is the frame, in the background there are the region and the world. Consequently, it is not possible to ignore the transformations that happened in them which were reflected on the intellectuals in the disappearance of certain theories and the appearance of others. Now, if I want to cover all this, I must have a technique that permits me to move freely within a dense and complex world. Every gap helps. What do you think of prizes, and especially of the Arabic Booker? There is no harm in seeking the prize, provided it does not contradict what the writer believes in. This is a condition that ought not to be relinquished. A writer's dignity is more important than any prize in the world. I believe that, if the Arabic Booker prize retains is criteria, it will earn the credibility that will make it a notable and trustworthy prize. This will not happen unless its own conditions are followed by focusing on the novel and not the novelist, and by not paying attention to geographical distribution as if every country has a share that should be given in order to achieve fairness to everyone.

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