Muhammad Shaheen

Personal Info

Country of residence: Palestine

Gender: Male

Information

Dr. Muhammad Shaheen is a Jordanian writer and academic, a professor of English literature at the University of Jordan since 1985. He has published many books in Arabic and English, and is the editor-in-chief of the cultural magazine issued by the University of Jordan and the editor-in-chief of the Mu'tah Research Journal. He participated in the Fifth Cairo International Forum for Novel Creativity and was honored by the Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni . He was a member of the jury of the Third Cairo International Forum for Arabic Poetry in 2013. He has won several awards and has been honored several times.

He served as Assistant President of the University of Jordan for two years from 1978 to 1980, and as Vice President of Mutah University for four years from 1998 to 2002. He also worked as an advisor to the Ministry of Higher Education in Jordan in the mid-1980s (1985-1989).

His life

Shaheen studied English literature at Ain Shams University in Egypt , graduating in 1962. He had previously graduated from the Teachers' College and worked as a teacher at Beit Fajjar Preparatory School. After receiving his BA in English Literature from Ain Shams University, he returned to Palestine to teach at Al-Hashimiya Secondary School. He then traveled on a scholarship to obtain a Master's degree from the University of Colorado in the United States in 1964. After receiving his Master's degree, he returned to Palestine and worked as a teacher at the Teachers' College. He then traveled to Britain to obtain a PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University , which he completed in 1974. He is the editor-in-chief of the Cultural Magazine published by the University of Jordan.

He contributed to translating many literary works, the most important of which was his translation of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry into English.

Academic work

Mohammed Shahin has been a lecturer in the Department of English in the Faculty of Foreign Languages (formerly the Faculty of Arts) at the University of Jordan since 1985, teaching a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses, including literary theory and criticism in the modern era, twentieth-century English literature, the novel, comparative literature, and literary translation. He is the editor-in-chief of Al-Thaqafiya magazine, a quarterly journal published by the University of Jordan. The magazine has occupied a distinguished position among academic journals and has attracted numerous writers, including Mohammed Asfour , Faisal Darraj, Rafi' al-Nasiri , Noam Chomsky , Hussein Yaghi, and other writers and specialists.

Muhammad Shaheen served as Assistant President of the University of Jordan for two years, from 1978 to 1980, and as Vice President of Mutah University for four years, from 1998 to 2002. He also worked as an advisor to the Ministry of Higher Education in Jordan in the mid-1980s (1985-1989). Shaheen first chaired the English Department at the University of Jordan from 1988 to 1989. He then returned to chair the department between 1993 and 1995.

Translation

Given the close relationship that linked Mohammed Shahin with the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish , and the significant literary impact that their shared ideas had on the poet, Shahin decided to submit a request to translate the poetry collection Like Almond Blossoms or Beyond . He offered the translation to Darwish, who he recalls saying that he preferred to have his works translated before they were published, so that he could read them word for word. In an article published in Al-Arabi magazine , Shahin states that he was pleased with Darwish's agreement to begin translating the poetry collection. He also mentioned that he held regular meetings with Darwish to discuss the translation. Other literary works that Shahin translated include The Six Days Hexagram by Emile Jebbi, as well as Badr Shakir al-Sayyab's Rain Song, in addition to numerous short stories by Ghassan Kanafani , Gamal Ghitani , Zakaria Tamer, Michel Aflaq, and other writers and novelists. His efforts in translation from English into Arabic have varied between translating poetry and prose. In modern poetry, he translated Ezra Pound's The Wanderer, The Return, and A Christmas Toast in 1977. He translated Anthem First in 1986. He also translated The Letters of the Novelist Meredith into Arabic in 1983. He translated many of T. S. Eliot's poems , including What the Thunder Said, The Waste Land, The Weeping Girl, and The Portrait of a Lady. In addition, he supervised, reviewed, and edited many of the translated works, including:

Shadows of the Future, written by Patrick Parrinder and translated by Bakr Abbas.
Islam in England, written by Nabil Matar and translated by Bakr Abbas.
Culture and Resistance, by Edward Said and Barsimian, translated by Alaa Abu Zeina.
The Zionist Question, written by Jacqueline Rose and translated by Muhammad Asfour .

Literary studies and articles

In addition to Shaheen's activity in the field of literary translation and criticism, his contributions to enriching modern literary critical thought in both English and Arabic literature were numerous and multifaceted. The number of articles and literary studies published in refereed journals exceeded 50. Among the most important of these are what he wrote about Ezra Pound and his influence on the renewal of modern poetry, and his in-depth analyses of the views of Edward Said , Mahmoud Darwish, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Louis Awad, and Ihsan Abbas . In addition to his studies that reflect the views of an integrated school of modernity , postmodernism , Orientalism , and postcolonialism .

Appreciation Awards

Mohamed Shaheen has received many awards and medals, the most important of which are:

The Independence Medal for Literature from the Jordanian Ministry of Culture in 2002.
The jury shield for the Syrian novelist Zakaria Tamer’s short story award in Cairo in 2009.
He won the Jury Medal for the Arab Novel Creativity Award from the Supreme Council of Culture in Cairo for the years 2003 and 2005.
He obtained a degree from Philadelphia University in literary and specialized translation in 2005.
He received the National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage Medal in Qatar in 2005.
Sheikh Zayed Translation Award Jury Medal 2007.

His works

Muhammad Shaheen has published many books in English, the most important of which are:

The Modern Arabic Short Story: Shahrazad Returns. Macmillan Press: London 1989
George Meredith: A Reappraisal of the novels. Macmillan Press: London 1981
Selected Letters of George Meredith, Macmillan Press: London
E.M. Forster and the Politics of Imperialism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
Almond Blossoms And Beyond (Translated By Mohammad Shaheen), Interlink Books, 2009
He also has many books in the Arabic library, including:

Taha Hussein in New Mirrors, 2014
Transformations of Longing in Season of Migration to the North: Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing , 1993.
Eliot and his influence on contemporary Arabic poetry: Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing , 1992.
Edward Said: A Novel for Generations: Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing , 2005.
Edward Said: Travels in the World of Culture, Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing , 2007.
Edward Said: Articles and Dialogues (Introduced and Edited by Muhammad Shahin), Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing, 2005.
Contributions
Participated in the Golden Jubilee celebration of the passing of the Sheikh of Critics, Muhammad Mandour , in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Culture, Helmy El-Namnam , under the title “Muhammad Mandour between Literary Thought and Political Thought,” at the Supreme Council of Culture, with the participation of writers, thinkers, and politicians from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. Dr. Muhammad Shaheen chaired the third session.

Articles and studies

Shaheen has published numerous peer-reviewed literary articles in international literary and critical magazines, including:

George Meredith's Early Life: Ordeal and Reticence: The Modern Language Review April 1982 Vol. 77
The Reception of Pound in Arabic: Immature response of Gibran and Bayyati: PAIDEUMA, Vol 34
The Arabian Nights in English Literature(Book Review): The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol 22.
Pickthall: New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, Clarenden Press, 2004.
On Meredith's Letters: American Notes and Queries, Yale 1974
Forster on Proust: Times Literary Supplement<London 1974
Tayeb Salih and Conrad: Comparative Literature Studies<University of Illinois<1985
T. L. Lawrence and Pound: PAIDEUMA, 1988
The Manuscript of Meredith's Last Novel: Notes and Queries, Oxford 1975
Meredith Letter to Stephen: Notes and Queries, Oxford 1978
Two New Meredith Letters to Morrison: Notes and Queries, Oxford, 1978
Two New Meredith Letters to Gosse: Notes and Queries, Oxford, 1980
Some Unpublished Hardy Letters to Gosse: Notes and Queries, Oxford 1980
He also wrote many literary, critical and academic articles in Arabic, including:

Richards and Objectivity in Art: The Literary Stance, No. 88 (1978)
Dimensions of the Artistic Experience in Tolstoy: Fikr Magazine, Issue 33 (1979)
Ezra Pound and the Renewal Movement in Modern Poetry: Aqlam Magazine, Issue 10/11 (1981)
How Modern Arabic Poetry Lost Its Way: Al-Muntada Magazine, Issue 36 (1986)
Edward Said, An Arab Insight into the World of Thought: Al-Jadeed Magazine, Issue 4 (1994)
Edward Said, Memory Not for Forgetting: Al-Karmel Magazine, Issue 78 (2004)
A New Mawwal in Edward Said's Review: Awan Magazine, Issue 6 (2004)
On Translations of Arabic Literature: Publications of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information.

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