Antar: A Bedoueen Romance

by Terrick Hamilton

The book, "" A Bedoueen Romance "", has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1819

About the author

Terrick Hamilton was an English orientalist and translator. He served first as Oriental Secretary and then as Secretary at the British Embassy in Constantinople from 1820 to 1824.

Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem From the Arabic: An Imitation is in part a free translation or adaptation of Hamilton's Antar: A Bedoueen Romance (1820).

Reviews

[didi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wine cannot calm my heart, sickness will not quit my body—my eyelids are ever sore—tears ever stream in torrents from them. The songstress would soothe my heart with her voice; but my love-sick heart loathes it.

beautiful story but translation is lacking in some way.

[Joseph F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually did not read this work as a solo book, but as part of an anthology called Arabic Poetry for English Readers. It is a collection of old translations of various masterworks, and it includes a shortened version (epitome), of Hamilton's four volume partial translation.
I was first turned on to Antar when I heard the musical work Antar, or Antar symphony, by Rimsky-Korsakov. Since I enjoy epic literature, I managed to track this down. The original work can fill many volumes, but this version is manageable at less than 200 pages. It tells of Antar, a man who's father is an important figure in his community, but who's mother is a black slave. Because of this Antar is not recognized by his father and he is treated as someone to look after the livestock. But Antar is made of heroic stuff. He soon shows his warrior prowess and is eventually embraced by his father and the community as a hero.
He then falls in love with Abla, his cousin. Their love is strong, but her father will never consent to the marriage. Much of the story that follows consists of Abla needing to be rescued (she seems to attract trouble), Antar rescuing her and/or her father, and then once again being rejected by Abla's asshole of a father.
I really liked this story. It has a few problems however. Being a translation from the 1800's it could use some sprucing up to suit a modern audience. The work is a mixture of prose and verse. Usually that is fine, but in this case since the verse does not add to the narrative it feels really intrusive when it springs up suddenly in the middle of the prose narrative. I don't know if this is the way the original is, or the work of the translator.