Noah with Arts4Refugees discussed another arty refugee with Freddie. a student journalist with us. This placement was organised by Oxford University Career Services. Freddie is studying German and Arabic He researched an artist with great prominence in the Arabic and German-speaking world - Mahmoud Darwish. He was one of the reasons Freddie became interested in the Arabic language.
Mahmoud is a poet, and Freddie finds the translations to be different in the Arabic language than in English. He believes reading it in the original language is the best way to understand poetry. Nature is very profound in his work, so it is easier to understand in Arabic. He highlights his Palestinian experience in his poetry.
Mahmoud was born in Palestine and had to flee because of the Nakba. He had to flee to Lebanon and returned to Palestine a year later. In 1970 he went to study in Russia, and he left Palestine for 26 years. His identity has been shaped by how much he moves around and being a refugee.
You can listen to the full conversation here.
Key Points:
Freddie is studying German and Arabic at Oxford
He believes that the original language that writing is in is the best way to understand the work because some elements can be lost in translations
Mahmoud is regarded as the Palestinian national poet.
He also received numerous awards like the “Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters” a French award in 1993
He published over 30 volumes of poetry.
If you would like to learn more about Mahmoud- there is a short story by Freddie here.
