edition, p. 419).
The Arabic poem in §2.7 replaces the teeth with tears, which it compares both to pearls and to rain, besides adding henna-dyed fingers to the line. For this I have used “Oh teares . . .”: Sidney, Sonnet C, in Complete Works, I:282. Abū Zayd’s next lines compare the face to the moon and tears to pearls dropped from a perfumed ring. My equivalent is “Alas I found . . .”: Sidney, Sonnet LXXXVII, in Works, I:277. “The proof of the Pudding . . .”: This is the form attested in the OED citations for 1790 and 1802.
Abū Zayd’s topper (§2.8) describes parting from a veiled lover who is weeping and biting her hands in grief, which he describes as “biting crystal with pearls.” My English (“I sighed her sighs . . .”) continues Sidney, Sonnet LXXXVII, in Works, II:277.
Section §2.9 is the first recognition scene in the Impostures: that is, the first of the many scenes in which al-Ḥārith recognizes the eloquent stranger as his old friend Abū Zayd. Abdelfattah Kilito has argued that the recognition scene is what defines an Imposture (Séances, 122). For a typology of recognition scenes see Zakharia, Abū Zayd, 189–212; and for a thematic study, Kennedy, Recognition, esp. 246–306. Abū Zayd’s envoi is cobbled together from lines by Johnson, all of them from “The Vanity of Human Wishes,” except “Fate! snatch away . . . ,” which is adapted from “Stella in Mourning.”
Bibliography
Boswell, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. London: Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1791.
. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. London: Richardson, 1823. [Edited by Edmund Malone.] This fifth edition of the work contains Boswell’s supplements and additional correspondence redistributed in chronological order. Unfortunately, many pages (in the electronic edition, at least) are missing or out of order.
[ ]. Boswell’s Life of Johnson. Abridged and edited by Charles Grosvenor Osgood. [? Princeton, 1917.] Though abridged, this edition has the advantage of being searchable, at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1564/1564-h/1564-h.htm.
Chappelow, Leonard. Six Assemblies; or Ingenious Conversations of Learned Men Among the Arabians. Cambridge, 1767.
[Johnson, Samuel]. The Yale Digital Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson http://www.yalejohnson.com/frontend/node/3#subject#Genre/Poem.
Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Edited by Brandi Besalke.
Kennedy, Philip F. Recognition in the Arabic Literary Tradition: Discovery, Deliverance, and Delusion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Lockhart, L. “Ḥulwān.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Leiden: Brill, 1960–2007.
[Qurʾan]. The Koran, or, Alcoran of Mohammed. Translated by George Sale. London: William Tegg, 1877; originally published 1734.
[Sidney, Philip]. The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney. Edited by Albert Feuillerat. Vol. I. Cambridge, 1912.
[Spenser, Edmund]. The Works of Edmund Spenser. Volume V. Edited by J. Payne Collier. London: Bickers, 1873.
Toorawa, Shawkat M. “Language and Male Homosocial Desire in the Autobiography of ʿAbd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (d. 629/1231).” Edebiyât: The Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures, new series, 7, no. 2 (1997): 251–65.
Imposture 3
Sing o’ Rich, Sing o’ Poor
In this episode, Abū Zayd produces on demand a poem in praise of a gold coin, and then a poem disparaging it. Being directly about money, this Imposture lent itself to translation into the English of Singapore, which despite its diminutive size is regularly ranked as one of the world’s most competitive economies. It is also a place where English has been transformed by contact with local languages, producing a creole called Singlish that is difficult to follow for speakers of other varieties. Because the diction of the Impostures is highly formal and often archaic, they too can be difficult to understand. This was true in the past as well, to judge by the many commentaries on the text and the definitions scribbled in various languages, including Arabic, on the manuscripts. These associations provided a pretext for choosing Singlish—in the style of the comedy routines still practiced by the likes of Selina Tan and Sebastian Tan—as the model English for this episode. One striking feature of this variety is the use of particles like ah and lah at the ends of sentences to convey emphasis, seek clarification, and the like. As these particles have no fixed translation, the notes usually do not provide one, but the meaning in any given case can be guessed from context. The Singlish of this Imposture was corrected by Jeremy Fernando.
3.1Dat Haris bin Hammam guy tell story:
Went to Higher Arabic party wit’ kaki, we macam bubbles in bubble tea. No one blur blur over dere, no one talk cock, no one cry father, cry mother. Actually we trade poem, mention rare sequence people transmit historical report. Later da man come, he bad leg one, and wear buruk clothes, like dat. He say, “Ho seh boh! Eh, you very kilat! Make whole family happy like bird! Dis morning you drink, hah? Yuuuuuuuuuuum seng! Eh, don’ be so yaya papaya, lah. Last time I rich, I belanjah everyone, spend everyone, hor. Good luck, had it. Cannot eat finish, ah. Own big property, big estate, always have gues’ gues’ gues’ gues’. But later wah lau eh! Eat salt, fighting, trouble, aiyoh! Evil eye ones cut cabbage head, we go pok kai, gues’ chabut, house go empty, habis, gone case, mati. Arse luck! Children eat grass, even cow die; evil eye oso feel sorry for me. Damn cham one!
3.2“Later, life chia lat, very har’, lor. No money, no slipper, feet pain! Lapar lah, damn hungry, peng san, wot? No mo eye liner, just bag under eye only; no mo live Bukit Timah, just stay kampung only; forget last time white horse, now just walk thorns only. Si peh siong cannot tahan, can die! Need what? Need so good one be generous, friend-friend, give face. Swear by God in Heaven, my grandmalher Kai La, good family, but now no money, not even place to koon. Can help or not?”
3.3Dat Haris bin Hammam guy say:
Old uncle, I say to him, “So sayang, so sayang!” But wan’ test him: zai or not? So I take out gold coin, say, “Uncle, you say poem, praise coin, can meh? You can, you keep coin, promise.”
He say “Can can,” straight away begin, recite poem he ownself compose:
Glitter golden farflung glories
Richly obverse secrets stories
Partner
