Foreign Authors - Do you read/speak/write in another language? Is there an author who writes in that language you wanna sperg about? Post here!

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Dread First

Dread First

Grand Mufti of Autism & Shitposter Emeritus
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
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May 12, 2017
If you are among the small percentage of people who read books nowadays, and if you're among the even smaller percentage of people among them who are literate in more than one language, please post some recommended reading from authors you appreciate!

I don't wanna be too rigid with formatting, but a few guidelines would be nice. Here's a sample of what I'm generally looking for

Code: 
Name: Abdul Ghani Khan 
Epithets/pen names: Ghani Khan
Lifetime: 1914-1996 (born in British India, lived in Afghanistan, died in Pakistan)
Languages written in: Pashto
Languages translated to: Urdu, English

Remarks: I haven't looked tremendously deep for Urdu translations of Ghani Khan's works, but I have come across ISBNs for them while I was looking for the ISBN of "The Pilgrim of Beauty: Selections from the Poetry of Abdul Ghani Khan" by Imtiaz Ahmad Sahibzada. There is an out-of-stock Amazon listing, and I have found a single shitty PDF scan of the entire book alongside a genuine storefront that sells it... for $60.

Links:
https://loferwriter.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/the-pilgrim-of-a-beauty.pdf
https://shahmbookco.com/product/the-pilgrim-of-beauty-selections-from-the-poetry-of-abdul-khani-khan/

I have a few that I want to gradually edit into this OP or maybe post later when I have more to offer, but you get the idea.
 
Name: Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Balkhi (جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى)
Epithets/pen names: Jalaluddin Muhuammad Rumi / Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi / Mawlana Rumi / Rumi
Lifetime: 1207-1273 (born in Balkh of modern-day Afghanistan, eventually migrated to Konya in present-day Turkey during the Sultanate of Rum)
Languages written in: Farsi
Languages translated to: Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Hindi, English, etc.

Remarks: I'm not necessarily treading new ground by recommending Mawlana Rumi's works. Even in the USA, it's not hard to come across translated copies of Rumi's works either on Amazon, in a college library, or even your local Barnes & Noble. Western popular culture doesn't sing praises of Rumi the way that they do of Shakespeare, but he's a popular target for white liberals (even some celebrities) to quote to appear more educated than they really are.

I bring this up because a lot of Rumi's works in English are horribly translated. Misattributed quotes are also unfortunately common among Iranian, Afghan, and Pakistani diaspora communities on Twitter and Instagram who are trying to learn more about Rumi. See the spoiler for more information.

1661121174765.png

Links:
As far as books are concerned, these are what I personally see recommended in Rumi-centric social media circles (i.e. Twitter/Instagram)

Masnawi-i Ma'nawi, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi; this translation allegedly tries to replicate the rhyme while maintaining Rumi's simple prose.

Masnawi-i-Ma'nawi translated by Alan Williams. It is essentially the same as the former, but allegedly translated in a more literal style which includes the original Farsi text.

The Quatrains of Rumi have also been translated in full by Ibrahim Gamard and Rawan Farhadi

RumiWasMuslim is a site that's basically acting as a Muslim 'fact checker' to debunk misattributed quotes of Rumi while also trying to curate recommended translations. It's fairly new, but it's pretty damn informative.
www.rumiwasmuslim.com

#rumiwasmuslim

Rumi was a Muslim, after all, his name was ‘Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī.’ He wore the turban of Islamic knowledge (‘ilm) like his father and grandfather before him. Despite this, many modern readers - especially those from non-Muslim societies - have come to know Rumi as a sage, a poet, a
www.rumiwasmuslim.com www.rumiwasmuslim.com
 
Last edited:
J'ai quinze ans et je ne veux pas mourir

Had to read this during college but I suppose there's an English version out there. The title means "I'm fifteen and I don't want to die." It's an autobiographical novel by a woman who grew up in Hungary during WW2. You know who didn't fare well in WW2? Hungary.
 
Dutch isn't a very literary language but I consider De helaasheid der dingen (The unfortunateness of things) by Dimitri Verhulst a very good novel. It's about white trash and how they are simply useless and trashy in their run down village, but they're happy in a weird way and its sweet.
 
Dread First said:
Name: Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Balkhi (جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى)
Epithets/pen names: Jalaluddin Muhuammad Rumi / Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi / Mawlana Rumi / Rumi
Lifetime: 1207-1273 (born in Balkh of modern-day Afghanistan, eventually migrated to Konya in present-day Turkey during the Sultanate of Rum)
Languages written in: Farsi
Languages translated to: Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Hindi, English, etc.

Remarks: I'm not necessarily treading new ground by recommending Mawlana Rumi's works. Even in the USA, it's not hard to come across translated copies of Rumi's works either on Amazon, in a college library, or even your local Barnes & Noble. Western popular culture doesn't sing praises of Rumi the way that they do of Shakespeare, but he's a popular target for white liberals (even some celebrities) to quote to appear more educated than they really are.

I bring this up because a lot of Rumi's works in English are horribly translated. Misattributed quotes are also unfortunately common among Iranian, Afghan, and Pakistani diaspora communities on Twitter and Instagram who are trying to learn more about Rumi. See the spoiler for more information.

View attachment 3630042

Links:
As far as books are concerned, these are what I personally see recommended in Rumi-centric social media circles (i.e. Twitter/Instagram)

Masnawi-i Ma'nawi, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi; this translation allegedly tries to replicate the rhyme while maintaining Rumi's simple prose.

Masnawi-i-Ma'nawi translated by Alan Williams. It is essentially the same as the former, but allegedly translated in a more literal style which includes the original Farsi text.

The Quatrains of Rumi have also been translated in full by Ibrahim Gamard and Rawan Farhadi

RumiWasMuslim is a site that's basically acting as a Muslim 'fact checker' to debunk misattributed quotes of Rumi while also trying to curate recommended translations. It's fairly new, but it's pretty damn informative.
www.rumiwasmuslim.com

#rumiwasmuslim

Rumi was a Muslim, after all, his name was ‘Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī.’ He wore the turban of Islamic knowledge (‘ilm) like his father and grandfather before him. Despite this, many modern readers - especially those from non-Muslim societies - have come to know Rumi as a sage, a poet, a
www.rumiwasmuslim.com www.rumiwasmuslim.com
Click to expand...
Ooh, I know about this one. Yeah, a lot of Rumi's writing were unfortunately had the Islamic reference and elements scrubbed off to make it palatable in the west. A lot of Islamic writings, especially in Rumi's era, are full of esoteric stuff, something they picked up when the Islamic scholars begun learning teachings like Plato and Socrates
 
Rezza said:
Ooh, I know about this one. Yeah, a lot of Rumi's writing were unfortunately had the Islamic reference and elements scrubbed off to make it palatable in the west. A lot of Islamic writings, especially in Rumi's era, are full of esoteric stuff, something they picked up when the Islamic scholars begun learning teachings like Plato and Socrates
Click to expand...

I curse Coleman Barks and his incompetent ass for removing Islam from Rumi’s works. Removing Islam from Rumi is like removing any hint of Christianity from CS Lewis’ works.
 
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