Exclusive: Mazen Naous talks the memoirs of Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh
In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen English, writer Mazen Naous discusses his translation of the memoirs of seminal Lebanese political activist Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh.
Writing about the Arab World’s political figures is not always an easy task, so how about revealing the intimate thoughts and reflections of a woman who not only is the first female political prisoner in post-Sykes-Picot Syria, but also is the wife of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party’s founder Antoun Sa’adeh?
In his latest literary endeavor, Mazen Naous produced the first English translation of the memoirs of Lebanese political activist Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh (1909-1976), grouping them under the title “Memoirs of Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh: Syrian Social Nationalist, Reformer, Political Prisoner” (Folios Limited, 2022).
In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen English, Naous explains the reason behind his decision to translate the memoirs into English, his personal relationship with the political activist, and what he hopes the book could achieve in the political debate arena.
Why did you decide to translate the memoirs of Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh? And what role did she play during her political activism?
I decided to translate the memoirs of Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh for multiple reasons, one of which is that she's my grandmother. And of course, this played a major part in my decision to translate the memoirs. Other than that, however, Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh was the first woman political prisoner in Syria. And this is an important fact. It should be commemorated.
I think her point of view as a woman relating her experiences, both as a person who is working in politics, who was imprisoned unjustly for eight and a half years, and who is telling history, the history of our area from the woman's perspective, is quite important. And that's why I decided to translate these memoirs. These are, in fact, the first translation of the memoirs in English. And as we all know, she was an iconic Syrian social nationalist. She was an activist and a reformer. And as a result, many people would be interested in what she has to say about the region.
How did you approach translating the memoirs and how did you convey Juliette Elmir Sa’adeh’s internal voice in the book?
In my translation of the memoirs, I treated them as a historical document. That is, I remained as close to the text as possible and did not edit out any repetitions of episodes or subject matter. And my task as a translator was to listen closely to Juliette Elmir's narrative voice, to try to recreate her cadences and style in translation. Of course, Juliette Elmir wrote in formal Arabic, but in the position of an immigrant who had returned to the Arabic language later in life. So I really worked hard to transfer both the formal tone and the idiosyncrasies of her style into English. But I didn't do so without allowing the conviction and pain behind her words to be felt. So I hope that this will be an informative, enjoyable read for multiple audiences.
What do you hope the memoirs would achieve?
I hope that these memoirs will contribute to debates on nationalism, secularism, and gendered politics in geographic Syria. I hope that they will find their way to multiple intellectual and political spaces. I believe that the translation would appeal to scholars in the fields of history, politics, sociology, translation, feminist studies, and cultural studies. That is, I hope that the memoirs will have a large readership that is interested in all of these issues, and the voice of a woman who struggled and continued to persevere against so many immense odds.