About Ḥikāyat al-Ḥūb wa-l-Waṭan, the Judeo-Arabic version of ‘Love in Zion’ by Abraham Mapu. Preliminary study

Abstract

Ahabat Ṣion, ‘Love in Zion’, by Abraham Mapu is considered the first Modern Hebrew novel and has been translated into numerous languages since its publication in 1853. Nevertheless, those Judeo-Arabic versions emerged from the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment in North Africa area, concretely Tunisia and the cities of the periphery, deserve special attention.

This article is focused on the version entitled Ḥikāyat al-Ḥūb wa-l-Waṭan ‘Novel of the love and homeland’ (Susa, 1943), the latest of all translations which arose in the declining years of the movement of publications in Judeo-Arabic in the middle of the 20th century and the second translation attempt by Messud Ma‘arek, one of the most relevant promoter and editor in this Modern Judeo-Arabic stage. The present preliminary study pretends to contextualize this translation, offering a description of the spelling and a comparison between Ḥikāyat al-Ḥūb wa-l-Waṭan and the original ‘Love in Zion’ through textual examples.