Cavafy’s Complete Works In Arabic

The translation of the complete works of Cavafy into Arabic by renowned poet and translator Refaat Sallam, was presented in an event of the Annex of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, in the the Cavafy Museum in Alexandria, Egypt.

Through this event, the foundation launched a series of cultural activities for the Year of Constantine Cavafy, which include visual art exhibitions, film screenings, concerts, albums and publications. The poets Fuad Taman and Montaser Abdelmawgood spoke of Sallam’s translation work. Tamam referred to the precious Arabic translations of Hamdy Ibrahim, Naim Attia and Samuel Bishara, showing the Egyptian’s growing interest in the poetical works of the great Alexandrian poet, who honors Alexandria.

Montaser pointed out that Sallam’s book offers the Arabic public the complete works of Cavafy, as apart from the 154 published poems, are included the banned, the unfinished, the hidden and the prose poems, as well as an extensive informative introduction. He also referred in more detail to the originality and specificity of Cavafy’s themes and poetic philosophy.

Then the translator, with a dense and attractive speech outlined his own Cavafy, highlighting his long preoccupation with his work.

A recitation of Cavafy’s poems followed in Greek, Arabic, English and Italian by the General Consul of Greece to Alexandria, Christos Kapodistrias and other Greeks and Egyptians.