Professor
Michelle Hartman is Professor of Arabic Literature at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, where she has worked since 2002. She teaches in all areas of Arabic literature and is especially interested in the way in which creative languages are used in literary texts, the connections between the politics of literature and its poetics and literature as resistance. One of her main areas of focus in her research is the politics of translation from Arabic to English, particularly the way in which theory and practice do and do not come together.
Her literary and translation research is primarily on women writers from Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. Her book, Native Tongue, Stranger Talk (Syracuse University Press, 2014) is an anti-colonial reading of how women writers from Lebanon who write in French use Arabic words to advance messages about gender, nation, ethno-religious belonging and class in their novels. She recently edited a collection of essays, published by the MLA (Modern Language Association) in 2018, that explore the politics and ethics of teaching Arabic Literature in translation. Essays focus on both pragmatic and practical suggestions as well as more theoretical interventions into what it means to teach these works in a range of settings in English. Her most recent book, Breaking Broken English: Black Arab Solidarity and the Politics of Language (Syracuse University Press, 2014) explores how poetry and fiction by Arab and Arab American writers express literary solidarities with African Americans, and uses Black intellectual and theoretical work to probe the use of language in a series of works.
In addition to her academic research and writing on the Politics of Translation from Arabic to English, Michelle also is a literary translator. She has translated eight novels, a memoir, and a short story collection. Her commitment to connecting theory and practice of translation emerges out of this experience of translation.
For more information on these projects, please click on the publications and translations tabs above.Publications
Books:
, Syracuse University Press.
This book is an exploration of the long and complex histories of how solidarities between Black Americans and Arabs, Arab Americans and Palestinians especially are and have been expressed in literary works by Arab American authors over time. It engages poetry, fiction, and memoir by a range of authors.
鈥淢ichelle Hartman plumbs the polysemy of 鈥榖reaking鈥� with rich analytical acuity, compelling us to read solidarity across a wide range of literary and linguistic practices.鈥濃�擪eith Feldman, University of California, Berkeley.
鈥淗artman鈥檚 thought-provoking analysis of a variety of work from poetry to short fiction to novels to memoir offers an understanding of how language and racial politics have impacted the way Arab Americans position themselves in American society.鈥濃�擯auline Kaldas, Hollins University.
"A superb follow up to Native Tongue, Stranger Talk, Michelle Hartman's Breaking Broken English theorizes about the linguistic, aesthetic, and political connections between Blacks and Arabs in the United States. Hartman deftly analyzes Arab American work with Black Studies as a critical lens, offering radical reading strategies that fundamentally shift how we understand Arab American letters. Breaking Broken English should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the field.鈥� 鈥擯rofessor Ther铆 Pickens, Bates College.
For more information from Syracuse University Press and to order, please click
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is available .听 For Canadian buyers please click
, Syracuse University Press (May 2014).
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Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2002.
Recent Articles and Book Reviews
Rosalind Hampton and Michelle Hartman, Journal of Critical Race Inquiry 6:1 (2019), 1-31
鈥溾�� in CLINA Journal 2:1 (2016)
"'My Tale鈥檚 Too Long to Tell': The Locust and the Bird between South Lebanon and New York City鈥� (2015): 168-192.
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Selected Articles and Book Chapters:
"Towards Language and Resistance: A Breaking Manifesto鈥� co-author rosalind hampton in Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh and Lucian Stone eds. London, Palgrave (2017): 115-128.听
鈥淭ranslating a Literary Tradition: Arabic Literature鈥� in the volume听, edited by Lawrence Venuti. London/New York: Routledge, (2016): 117-125.
鈥淎 鈥淒ruze Novel鈥� as World Literature?: Rabih Alameddine鈥檚 I, the Divine鈥� The Edinburgh Companion to the Arab Novel in English: The Politics of Anglo Arab and Arab American Literature and Culture. Ed. Nouri Gana. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013): 339-359.
Feminist Studies, 38:1 (Spring 2012): 17-49.
Tulsa Studies in Women鈥檚 Literature, 30:1 (Spring 2011): 15-36. (appeared fall 2012)
鈥淭eaching Naguib Mahfouz as World Literature鈥� Approaches to Teaching Naguib Mahfouz (Eds.) Wail Hassan and Susan Muaddi Darraj. New York: Modern Language Association, 2011, 114-128.
鈥淕randmothers, Grape Leaves and Kahlil Gibran: Writing Race in Anthologies of Arab American Literature鈥� Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects (Eds.) N Naber and A Jamal, Syracuse University Press, 2008, 170-203.
MELUS Journal special issue on Arab American Literature, 31:4, winter 2006, 145-166
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 37:3, Aug 2005, 397-420
Journal of Arabic Literature 35.3, Fall 2004, pp. 270-296
(co-authored with Alessandro Olsaretti) (Radical History Review, Spring 2003, pp. 36-65)
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Breaking Broken English
, Syracuse University Press.
This book is an exploration of the long and complex histories of how solidarities between Black Americans and Arabs, Arab Americans and Palestinians especially are and have been expressed in literary works by Arab American authors over time. It engages poetry, fiction, and memoir by a range of authors.
鈥淢ichelle Hartman plumbs the polysemy of 鈥榖reaking鈥� with rich analytical acuity, compelling us to read solidarity across a wide range of literary and linguistic practices.鈥濃�擪eith Feldman, University of California, Berkeley.
鈥淗artman鈥檚 thought-provoking analysis of a variety of work from poetry to short fiction to novels to memoir offers an understanding of how language and racial politics have impacted the way Arab Americans position themselves in American society.鈥濃�擯auline Kaldas, Hollins University.
"A superb follow up to Native Tongue, Stranger Talk, Michelle Hartman's Breaking Broken English theorizes about the linguistic, aesthetic, and political connections between Blacks and Arabs in the United States. Hartman deftly analyzes Arab American work with Black Studies as a critical lens, offering radical reading strategies that fundamentally shift how we understand Arab American letters. Breaking Broken English should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the field.鈥� 鈥擯rofessor Ther铆 Pickens, Bates College.
Journal of Blacks in Higher Education recommends Breaking Broken English as 鈥�", also on Twitter:
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For more information from Syracuse University Press and to order, please click
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Book Launch in Montreal on Friday April 26, 2019 at Eug茅lionne, Librarairie F茅ministe
Click for facebook event page.
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Book Launch in New York City on Thursday May 9, 2019 at Bluestocking Bookstore, Caf茅 & Activist
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Click for NYC Facebook page
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To order a copy, please click
Translations
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Translations of Novels from Arabic to English:
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by听Shahla Ujayli听 (forthcoming 2021)
Shortlisted for The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF)
Read an excerpt of the forthcoming novel
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translation of Shahla Ujayli鈥檚 Arab Booker (IPAF) prize nominated novel.
鈥淎 Syrian woman reckons with personal illness in parallel with the destruction of her homeland. Syria鈥檚 ongoing civil war provides the backdrop for Ujayli鈥檚 third novel (Persian Carpet, 2013, etc.) but doesn鈥檛 claim center stage; indeed, one theme of this globe-trotting, fatalistic tale is that catastrophes large and small lurk even if we escape a war zone. The narrator, Joumane Badran, is a Syrian native and humanitarian worker in her 30s living in Amman, Jordan, while her father and two sisters have remained in Syria, relating grim news of bombings and power plays by the 鈥榮qualid archipelago of factions鈥� there. Joumane herself witnesses the impact secondhand, monitoring a refugee camp in Jordan, but the bulk of the novel focuses on two more interior concerns: her budding relationship with Nasser al-Amireh, a climate expert, and a cancer diagnosis that leaves her fearing death, wracked from chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Or, in other words, she鈥檚 focused on love and mortality, and her narrative sinuously moves from moments of grace to calamity and tragedy, past and present. Tales of coincidence and harsh irony abound, as when Joumane recalls that she'd met her oncologist decades earlier on family trips to Italy and that he鈥檇 gotten his degree in time to monitor his stepfather鈥檚 death. That鈥檚 just one case in which Ujayli ties up plotlines with a jet-black bow, but for all its concern with mortality and entropy, there鈥檚 plenty of narrative and intellectual energy in the story, as when Joumane recalls her father鈥檚 travels (he witnessed the 1963 March on Washington) or her friends' and sisters鈥� love affairs, which are tinged with mythos (Pygmalion, pirates). 鈥楾he final truth is that your body is your homeland and the greatest treason is for it to betray itself,鈥� she writes, and the novel thoughtfully maps where self, family, and country intersect. A purposefully digressive and storm-clouded narrative, appropriate for capturing a Syrian expatriate鈥檚 mood.鈥�
鈥擪irkus Reviews
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by Radwa Ashour
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by Jana Fawaz Elhassan
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by Iman Humaydan
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an exciting 听collection of short stories from Akashic Books
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by Alexandra Chreiteh. Northampton: Interlink Books, 2015 [originally, Ali wa ummuhu al-russiyah]
Alexandra Chreiteh鈥檚 thoughts on being translated:听
by Iman Humaydan. Northampton, Interlink Books (2014) [originally, Hayawat Ukhra]
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by Alexandra Chreiteh. Northampton: Interlink Books, 2012. [originally, Da鈥檌man Coca Cola
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by Iman Humaydan Younes. Northampton: Interlink Books, 2008. [originally Toot Barri]
- : Introduction to my translation of Iman Humaydan Younes鈥檚 novel, Wild Mulberries.
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by Muhammad Kamil al-Khatib (co-translated with Maher Barakat) Northampton: Interlink Books, 2002. [originally Hakadha ka蜜桃传媒app nahar]
Research
Areas of Interest
Arabic literature; Francophone literature of the Arab World; Arabic literature and the politics of translation; women's literatures; language use and literature; nationalism and literature.
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Collaborative Research Project
Women鈥檚 War Stories: Building an archive of Women in the Lebanese Civil War
This is a multi-year SSHRC funded project Michelle is working on with Professor Malek Abisaab, building an archive of Women and the Lebanese Civil War.
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Current Translation Projects
Currently, Michelle is working on a translation听of Jana Elhassan鈥檚 novel听Ana wa Hiya wa al-Ukhriyat.
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Other Translation-related Links
Interview with about translating Arab women鈥檚 literature.
: 15 Rules for Translation by Chip Rossetti and myself.
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Other Links of Interest
Coverage of the events and related topics:
Arab literature (in English) blog:
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Courses and Supervision
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Teaching and supervisory interest(s):
I teach courses on Arabic Literature, classical and modern, but particularly contemporary literature and literature written by women. The politics of language and literature, in particular the politics of translating Arabic into English is a major focus of my teaching.
I supervise graduate students in all areas of modern Arabic Literature, particularly literature written by women and work with students in translation theory and anti-colonial/ postcolonial feminist theories. My main supervisory interests are working with students engaged in thinking about language and literature, politics and poetics, and literary texts as resistance.
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Fall 2021
ISLA 210:听 Muslim Societies
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Winter 2021
ISLA 385:听 Poetics and Politics in Arabic Literature
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Fall 2019
Arabic Literature as World Literature
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Fall 2018
ISLA 210 : Muslim Societies听
Past courses:
Undergraduate:
Poetics and Politics in Arabic Literature
Arabic Literature as World Literature
FYS: Narrations of the Modern Middle East
Islamic Civilization
Graduate/Undergraduate:
Arab Women鈥檚 Literature Graduate Seminars
Approaches to Literature in the Islamic World: Modern Arabic Literature
Reading and Writing Arab and Muslim Women
Poetics of the Arab and Muslim Diaspora(s)
Arabic Literature c500-1970s
Modern Arabic Literature: Gender, Language and Nation
Modern Arabic Literature: Theory and Practice of Translation
Moments in the Modern Middle East: Historical and Literary Approaches (co-taught with L Parsons)