Issa J. Boullata
Issa J. Boullata was a Palestinian scholar, writer, and translator of Arabic literature.
Biography
He was born in Jerusalem on February 25, 1929 during the British Mandate of Palestine. He obtained a First Class BA in Arabic and Islamic studies in 1964 followed by a PhD in Arabic literature in 1969, both from the University of London. He taught Arabic studies for seven years at Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, before moving to McGill University, Montreal, in 1975. He taught graduate courses in Arabic Literature, Modern Arab Thought, and Qur'anic Studies at McGill's Institute of Islamic Studies until his retirement in 2004, and the honorific title of Emeritus Professor was conferred upon him on September 1, 2009.Boullata was the author of books on Arabic literature and poetry, and on the Qur'an. He also wrote articles and book reviews for scholarly journals, as well as articles for encyclopedias. He was a translator of Arabic literature and a two-time winner of the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award. He was a contributing editor of Banipal magazine of London, and his literary translations have appeared in issues of the magazine.
Boullata served as consultant for "The Blue Metropolis Al-Majidi Ibn Dhaher Arab Literary Prize" offered by the Blue Metropolis Foundation at its annual international literary festival in Montreal. Named after the poet Al-Majidi Ibn Dhaher, the prize, worth CAD $5,000, was initiated in 2007 by his efforts with donors. The prize was sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, and was given yearly to a creative Arab writer at the recommendation of a jury composed of an international roster of poets, novelists and literary professionals. The prize is currently on hiatus.
Marita Seward, of Oneonta, New York, was Boullata's wife for 56 years. She died on 15 August 2016. The couple had one daughter and three sons, including David Boullata, a broadcaster in Montreal, communications lecturer, and writer. Kamal Boullata, a painter, art historian, and literary writer, is Issa Boullata's brother and lives in Berlin, Germany.
Books
As author
Outlines of Romanticism in Modern Arabic Poetry, new edition Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: His Life and Poetry Modern Arab Poets, 1950–1975 Trends and Issues in Contemporary Arab Thought A Window on Modernism: Studies in the Works of Jabra Ibrahim Jabra Homecoming to Jerusalem A Retired Gentleman and Other Stories ; republished as True Arab Love and Other Short Stories ; translated into French as Amours Arabes Rocks and a Wisp of Soil,The Bells of Memory: A Palestinian Boyhood in Jerusalem ; translated into French as Les Échos de la Mémoire: Une Enfance Palestinienne à Jérusalem.As editor
Critical Perspectives on Modern Arabic Literature Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Literature Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur'an- ''The Miraculous Inimitability of the Holy Qur'an throughout History''
As translator
Embers and Ashes: Memoirs of an Arab Intellectual by Hisham SharabiFlight Against Time a novel by Emily NasrallahFugitive Light a novel by Mohammed BerradaMy Life an autobiography by Ahmad AminPrincesses' Street: Baghdad Memories an autobiography by Jabra Ibrahim JabraThe First Well: A Bethlehem Boyhood an autobiography by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra The Game of Forgetting a novel by Mohammed BerradaThe Square Moon short stories by Ghada Samman The Unique Necklace a compendium of Arabic classics by 10th-century Andalusian writer Ibn Abd RabbihThe Caliph's Sister, a novel by Jurji ZaidanThree Treatises on the I`jaz of the Qur'an, Qur'anic & literary studies by al-Rummani, al-Khattabi, & `Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani.- Numerous poems published in Salma Khadra Jayyusi's Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology and Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature, and poems and prose pieces in Banipal and elsewhere.