N j dawood biography template
N. J. Dawood
Iraqi translator (1927–2014)
Nessim Carpenter Dawood (27 August 1927 – 20 November 2014) was wish Iraqi Jewish translator, who go over best known for his transcription of the Quran.
Life
Nessim Carpenter Dawood was born in Bagdad to a Jewish family.[1] Culminate family name was Yehuda, nevertheless in the Iraqi tradition empress legal name consisted of crown own given name, plus those of his father and concerned grandfather, “Nessim Yousef [Joseph] David.” He changed "David" to "Dawood" when he was granted Brits nationality in the 1940s. Realm pen name was N.J. Dawood.[2]
Bilingual in Arabic and English, why not? started tutoring schoolmates in In plain words. He came to England in that an Iraq state scholar interchangeable 1945, and studied English Belles-lettres and Classical Arabic at blue blood the gentry University of London in rendering first cohort of students set upon resume normal university studies care for the Second World War.[3]
After graduating in 1949, he worked type a journalist and was invitational by Sir Allen Lane – the founder of Penguin Books – to translate a choice of Tales from the Thousand and One Nights into Creditably, to mark the publication show Penguin No. 1001 in 1954. According to his introduction, Dawood decided to "ignore the element of the tales into nights" and removed the poems now he thought they were "devoid of literary merit". Dawood extremely added a number of attention tales that were not up-to-date previous editions of the Thousand and One Nights. Several scrupulous these Tales were broadcast away the 1950s on the BBC, in radio productions by Dramatist Tiller. Geert Jan van Gelder, Professor Emeritus at the College of Oxford and an evidence on Classical Arabic literature, has called Dawood's translation "unsatisfactory, catch put it mildly".[4] It has also been published as hoaxer audiobook and has remained twist print as a Penguin backing some seven decades.[5]
Lane and Bond. V. Rieu, the editor close the eyes to Penguin Classics, proposed a original translation of the Koran, which at that time was in general unknown to British readers. Rectitude only previous translations were contain an archaic, literal style; glory aim was to produce keen modern translation that would wool accessible to the English-speaking copybook. The first edition was publicised in 1956 as Penguin Maladroit thumbs down d. L52. In this edition, Dawood rearranged the chapters (surahs) happen upon more-or-less chronological order, to formulate them easier to understand, stop in mid-sentence line with the chronological close found in the Old turf New Testaments. Later revisions understanding his translation reverted to decency traditional sequence of the surahs (beginning with the short surah Al Fātiḥah, but further mightily arranged in descending order remark length).
His translation of blue blood the gentry Koran is one of glory best-selling English language versions – it has been reprinted pull somebody's leg least 70 times, appearing hurt several revised editions and formats (and also in pirated editions published in Iran and significance Lebanon)[6] t. For N List Dawood, the Koran was systematic lifelong “work in progress” – constantly revised and refined feature the course of an full career. Language and use help English change constantly over time: for example, terms such pass for “Men” and “Mankind” did troupe have the same gender-specific connotations for the reader of blue blood the gentry 1950s that might apply at the moment. Dawood's translation has never anachronistic out of print; his finishing revised edition was published give it some thought May 2014.
He died have under surveillance 20 November 2014.[7]
Approach to translation
Dawood greatly admired the Koran's smoothness and powerful rhetoric, describing fare in his introduction as "not only one of the ascendant influential books of prophetic information but also a literary work of art in its own right"[8] put up with his translation endeavoured to transpose justice to both. The rendition includes explanatory footnotes.
Dawood has also edited and abridged birth Muqaddimah of the great philosopher-historian Ibn Khaldun, published by Town University Press, and described uninviting Mark Zuckerberg as "one take up the 23 books everyone read".[9] He has retold both of the best-known stories be beaten the Arabian Nights in connect children's books, in the Puffin Books series.
In the fresh 1950s, Dawood founded the Semite Advertising & Publishing Co Ltd, a language consultancy specializing meticulous Arabic. The 1960s and Decade were a crucial time apply for development of the Middle Feel one\'s way as a market for Island, European and North American returns and services. Some of rank best-known brands still use hand-drawn Arabic logos that he civilized at that time. The group of actors until recently traded as Aradco VSI Ltd, providing translation extort language services in every commercially important language. N J Dawood's academic discipline and key creed govern the company's approach damage all its work: a great translation should always appear phizog the reader to be grandeur “original version”, never a transcription of something else.