WAR SONGS
LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE
EDITORIAL BOARD
GENERAL EDITOR
Philip F. Kennedy, New York University
EXECUTIVE EDITORS
James E. Montgomery, University of Cambridge
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University
EDITORS
Sean Anthony, The Ohio State University
Julia Bray, University of Oxford
Michael Cooperson, University of California, Los Angeles
Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania
Maurice Pomerantz, New York University Abu Dhabi
Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Chicago
Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Chip Rossetti
DIGITAL PRODUCTION MANAGER
Stuart Brown
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Lucie M. Taylor
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Amani Al-Zoubi
LETTER FROM THE GENERAL EDITOR
The Library of Arabic Literature makes available Arabic editions and English translations of significant works of Arabic literature, with an emphasis on the seventh to nineteenth centuries. The Library of Arabic Literature thus includes texts from the pre-Islamic era to the cusp of the modern period, and encompasses a wide range of genres, including poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, travel writing, history, and historiography.
Books in the series are edited and translated by internationally recognized scholars. They are published as hardcovers in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, as English-only paperbacks, and as downloadable Arabic editions. For some texts, the series also publishes separate scholarly editions with full critical apparatus.
The Library encourages scholars to produce authoritative Arabic editions, accompanied by modern, lucid English translations, with the ultimate goal of introducing Arabic’s rich literary heritage to a general audience of readers as well as to scholars and students.
The Library of Arabic Literature is supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute and is published by NYU Press.
Philip F. Kennedy
General Editor, Library of Arabic Literature
ABOUT THIS PAPERBACK
This paperback edition differs in a few respects from its dual-language hardcover predecessor. Because of the compact trim size the pagination has changed. Material that referred to the Arabic edition has been updated to reflect the English-only format, and other material has been corrected and updated where appropriate. For information about the Arabic edition on which this English translation is based and about how the LAL Arabic text was established, readers are referred to the hardcover.
WAR SONGS
BY
ʿANTARAH IBN SHADDĀD
TRANSLATED BY
JAMES E. MONTGOMERY
WITH
RICHARD SIEBURTH
FOREWORD BY
PETER COLE
VOLUME EDITOR
TAHERA QUTBUDDIN
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
Copyright © 2018 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Antarah ibn Shaddad, active 6th century author. | Montgomery, James E. (James Edward), 1962– translator. | Sieburth, Richard, translator. | Qutbuddin, Tahera, editor. | Cole, Peter, 1957– author of foreword.
Title: War songs / Antarah ibn Shaddad ; translated by James E. Montgomery with Richard Sieburth ; foreword by Peter Cole ; volume editor, Tahera Qutbuddin.
Description: New York : New York University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018011651 (print) | LCCN 2018013927 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479806553 (e-book) | ISBN 9781479829651 (e-book) | ISBN 9781479858798 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781479880904 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Classification: LCC PJ7696.A53 (ebook) | LCC PJ7696.A53 A2 2018 (print) | DDC 892.7/11—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018011651
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Series design and composition by Nicole Hayward
Typeset in Adobe Text
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memoriam Peter Heath (1949–2014)
What is the difference between free and strict, literal translation? between free translation and outright adaptation?
Very often, readability. Strict translation usually makes for stiff English, or forced and un-english rhythms. Outright adaptation is perfectly valid if it makes a good, modern poem. Occasionally, an adaptation will translate the spirit of the original to better use than any other method: at other times, it will falsify the original beyond measure. Much depends upon the translator (also upon the reader).
PAUL BLACKBURN, “TRANSLATION (REPLIES TO A NEW YORK QUARTERLY QUESTIONNAIRE)” (1970)
CONTENTS
Letter from the General Editor
Map 1: The Tribes of Pre-Islamic Arabia [c. AD 600]
Map 2: The Topography of the Poetry of ʿAntarah