Farouk Abdel Wahab Mustafa Explained

Farouk Abdel Wahab Mustafa (Arabic: عبد الوهاب، فاروق; – 3 April 2013), pen name Farouk Abdel Wahab, was an Egyptian academic and translator based in the USA.^[1] He was born in Tanta and studied at the University of Cairo.^[2] He received a BA degree in 1962 and an MA in English literature in 1969.

Early life and education

He pursued doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota, obtaining a PhD in comparative literature in 1977. He taught at the University of Chicago from 1975 until his death.

He was the first occupant of the university's Ibn Rushd Professorial Lectureship in Modern Arabic Language,^[3] and was also the Associate Director of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Translations

He was also a noted translator of contemporary Arabic literature. Among his translations are the following:

A Certain Woman by Hala el Badry
The Other Place by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid
No One Sleeps in Alexandria by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid
Birds of Amber by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid
Chicago by Alaa el Aswany
Love in Exile by Bahaa Tahir
The Lodging House by Khairy Shalaby
Zayni Barakat by Gamal al-Ghitani
The Zafarani Files by Gamal al-Ghitani
The Book of Epiphanies by Gamal al-Ghitani
Al-A'mal al-Kamila (Complete Works) of Mikhail Roman

He also translated works by Shakespeare and Pirandello into Arabic.

Awards and recognition

Mustafa won the 2007 Banipal Prize for his translation of Khairy Shalaby's The Lodging House.

Association

Mustafa was a member of the Middle East Studies Association and the Arab Cultural Council of America.

Tribute

Mustafa died on April 3, 2013.^[4]

Notes and References

http://nelc.uchicago.edu/faculty/mustafa Profile on the University of Chicago's website
http://www.banipal.co.uk/contributors/505/farouk_mustafa/ Profile on Banipal magazine's website
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/020509/ibnrushd.shtml "Lectureship strengthens commitment to Arabic language", University of Chicago Chronicle, 9 May 2002
http://tirnscholars.org/2013/04/05/in-memoriam-farouk-abdel-wahab-mustafa-prolific-translator-of-arabic-fiction-and-teacher/ "In Memoriam: Farouk Abdel Wahab Mustafa, Prolific Translator of Arabic Fiction and Teacher".