Filumena Marturano: Language and Culture in Standard Arabic and Egyptian Vernacular Translations

The translation of theatrical works in which dialects are present is a delicate process of mediation requiring a careful valuation of formal and communicative textual aspects. For mediating between two different universes the translator must firstly choose whether to transmit the original text language variation – through the strategies available in the target language – or whether to ignore it, transferring the script into the standard target language. Accordingly, both the source oriented and the target-oriented translations are possible and produce results worthy of being examined, from the perspective of a wide interdisciplinary area including linguistic and cultural studies. Arabic versions of Italian theatrical and narrative works, originally characterized by the use of dialects, show a variety of solutions to the problems arising while translating, which are interesting for reflecting on the general decision-making process of translation and on the language choices adopted in a given target culture. My contribution aims to present the outcomes of a comparison between the original text of Filumena Marturano (1946), one of the comedies written by the Italian dramatist Eduardo De Filippo, and both the standard Arabic translation (2006) and the Egyptian vernacular script of its stage representation (1998). In the source text there are many Neapolitan vernacular expressions, as dialect is a major feature in typifying characters and environment, but the translations resort to a general neutralization of the foreign culture, through standardization or homogenization with the Egyptian culture

Egitto moderno, una storia di diversità. Il modello europeo e la società cosmopolita

In the process of formation of modern Egypt contributions from cultures other than Egyptian were considerable. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries continuous flows of immigrants from Western and Middle-Eastern countries occurred. They were originated by a number of reasons, but all of them shared a common research of a safe place to work and thrive in. The governmental xenophile policies and the favourable economic conditions in the country allowed the setting up of large colonies and the professional integration of foreign specialists in public and private activities pivotal for the development of modern Egypt. The European model dominated in the reforming work started by Muhammad ‘Ali, moulding the new ruling classes. At the same time a lively cosmopolitan society grew, leaving its mark in several fields of social, economic and cultural life. This age, long more than one hundred years, ended in a revolution that returned Egypt to the Egyptians, but did not erase its material and ideal legacy

Autori egiziani degli anni Duemila. Blogosfera, graphic e postmoderno: nuovi linguaggi nel panorama letterario arabo

The first decade of the new millennium represents a crucial change for Egyptian civil society and its means of expression. This paper presents a brief overview of some new narrative forms developed in those years that were a prelude to the movement of revolt against Mubārak and his establishment. Short and long tales adapted from blogs, graphic and postmodern novels related to the web environment suggest that the free public cyberspace hosts voices of new cultural trends and is a workshop for literary creativity

HDAC class I inhibitor domatinostat sensitizes pancreatic cancer to chemotherapy by targeting cancer stem cell compartment via FOXM1 modulation

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents an unmet clinical need due to the very poor prognosis and the lack of effective therapy. Here we investigated the potential of domatinostat (4SC-202), a new class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, currently in clinical development, to sensitize PDAC to first line standard gemcitabine (G)/taxol (T) doublet chemotherapy treatment. Methods: Synergistic anti-tumor effect of the combined treatment was assessed in PANC1, ASPC1 and PANC28 PDAC cell lines in vitro as well as on tumor spheroids and microtissues, by evaluating combination index (CI), apoptosis, clonogenic capability. The data were confirmed in vivo xenograft models of PANC28 and PANC1 cells in athymic mice. Cancer stem cells (CSC) targeting was studied by mRNA and protein expression of CSC markers, by limiting dilution assay, and by flow cytometric and immunofluorescent evaluation of CSC mitochondrial and cellular oxidative stress. Mechanistic role of forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) and downstream targets was evaluated in FOXM1-overexpressing PDAC cells. Results: We showed that domatinostat sensitized in vitro and in vivo models of PDAC to chemotherapeutics commonly used in PDAC patients management and particularly to GT doublet, by targeting CSC compartment through the induction of mitochondrial and cellular oxidative stress. Mechanistically, we showed that domatinostat hampers the expression and function of FOXM1, a transcription factor playing a crucial role in stemness, oxidative stress modulation and DNA repair. Domatinostat reduced FOXM1 protein levels by downregulating mRNA expression and inducing proteasome-mediated protein degradation thus preventing nuclear translocation correlated with a reduction of FOXM1 target genes. Furthermore, by overexpressing FOXM1 in PDAC cells we significantly reduced domatinostatinducing oxidative mitochondrial and cellular stress and abolished GT sensitization, both in adherent and spheroid cells, confirming FOXM1 crucial role in the mechanisms described. Finally, we found a correlation of FOXM1 expression with poor progression free survival in PDAC chemotherapy-treated patients

Oxaliplatin plus raltitrexed and leucovorin-modulated 5-fluorouracil i.v. bolus: a salvage regimen for colorectal cancer patients

The aim of the present study was to define the activity and tolerability of a triplet regimen including oxaliplatin 130 mg m−2 (2 h i.v. infusion) and raltitrexed 3.0 mg m−2 (15 min i.v. infusion) given on day 1, followed by levo-folinic acid 250 mg m−2 (2 h i.v. infusion) and 5-fluorouracil 1050 mg m−2 i.v. bolus on day 2, every 2 weeks, in pretreated colorectal cancer patients. From April 1999 to December 2000, 50 patients were enrolled: 26 were males and 24 females, their median age was 63 (range, 43–79) years; ECOG performance status was 0 in 26 patients, ⩾1 in 24 patients; 26 patients had received previous adjuvant chemotherapy, 40 patients had been exposed to one or two lines of palliative chemotherapy (including irinotecan in 31 cases); 18 patients were considered chemo-refractory. A total of 288 cycles were administered, with a median number of 6 (range 1–12) courses per patient. A complete response was obtained in three patients, and a partial response in nine patients, giving a major response rate of 24% (95% confidence interval, 13–38%), while 15 further patients showed a stable disease, for an overall control of tumour growth in 60% of patients. Three complete responses and three partial responses were obtained in patients pretreated with irinotecan (response rate, 19%); among refractory patients, three achieved partial responses (response rate, 13%). After a median follow-up of 18 (range, 10–30) months, 40 patients showed a progression of disease: the growth modulation index ranged between 0.2 and 2.5: it was ⩾1.33 (showing a significant delay of tumour growth) in 16 (40%) patients. Actuarial median progression-free survival time was 7.6 months, and median survival time was 13.6 months: estimated probability of survival was 55% at 1 year. Main severe toxicity was neutropenia: World Health Organisation grade 4 affected 32% of patients; non-haematological toxicity was mild: World Health Organisation grade 3 diarrhoea was complained of by 8%, and grade 3 stomatitis by 4% of patients; neurotoxicity (according to Lévi scale) was scored as grade 3 in 8% of patients. In conclusion, this regimen was manageable and active as salvage treatment of advanced colorectal cancer patients; it showed incomplete cross-resistance with irinotecan-based treatments, and proved to delay the progression of disease in a relevant proportion of treated patients

Egyptian writers and dialect: choices and goals towards the constyruction of a national literature (1858-1965)

Modern Egyptian fiction arises in a moment of general transformation of the society. Arguably, it contributes to the construction of a national consciousness and experiments innovative forms and modes of expression. In the first half of the 20th century the writers of the Modern School make innovative linguistic choices to represent truth, a purpose inspiring also the Social Realism of the 50s. A remarkable role is given to the realistic characterization of dialogue and narrative discourse through the adoption of the Egyptian vernacular as a literary language. Narrators who have entered the literary canon and others face diglossia and finalize their realistic aims by reproducing in their works the composite and unstable reality of orality. The present paper addresses the linguistic choices of some modern Egyptian writers, trying to explain their purposes and methods in relation to the observation of reality, to its representation, and to the ideologies current in their time

'Ciò che non ho potuto dire come pittore, l’ho detto come poeta, e ciò che non ho potuto dire come poeta, l’ho detto come romanziere’. Ǧabrā Ibrāhīm Ǧabrā e i percorsi della creatività

Ǧabrā Ibrāhīm Ǧabrā, poeta, narratore, pittore, traduttore, critico letterario e d’arte, è stato uno degli esponenti più significativi nel panorama culturale del Novecento arabo. Cristiano palestinese, esule in Iraq, ha espresso i diversi aspetti di se stesso attraverso medium differenti, ciascuno in sostegno dell’altro in un continuo impegno creativo. Autore di racconti, romanzi e poesie, ha introdotto in ambiente arabo opere di Shakespeare, Beckett e Faulkner, e ha partecipato alla nascita e allo sviluppo del Modernismo arabo sia in letteratura sia in pittura. Membro del Gruppo d’arte moderna di Baghdad, ha affrontato il tema dell’identità, dando forma a un’estetica verbale e figurativa dell’esperienza dell’esilio e della costruzione della nazione in chiave esistenzialista e promuovendo un attivismo progressista che ha recuperato le radici della civiltà e della tradizione, ma che si è opposto a un quiescente tradizionalismo. Mediante una rilettura di ciò che ha prodotto cimentandosi in vari ambiti, questo articolo si pone l’obiettivo di tracciare una mappa dei percorsi creativi di Ǧabrā.Ǧabrā Ibrāhīm Ǧabrā, poet, novelist, painter, translator, literary and art critic, was one of the most significant figures in the Arab cultural landscape of the twentieth century. A Christian Palestinian exile in Iraq, he expressed the different aspects of himself through different means, each one supporting the other in a continuous creative effort. Author of short stories, novels and poems, he introduced into the Arabic culture works of Shakespeare, Beckett and Faulkner, and participated in the creation and development of the Arab Modernism both in literature and in painting. Member of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, he addressed the topic of identity, shaping a verbal and figurative aesthetics of the exile experience and the nation-building in an existentialist perspective, and promoting a progressive activism that has recovered the roots of civilization and tradition and was opposed to a quiescent traditionalism as one. Through a re-reading of what he produced dealing with various fields, this article aims to map the creative paths of Ǧabrā

Neither fuṣḥā nor ‘āmmiyya: how to reach a simplified Arabic language writing for theatre. Linguistic devices in Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm’s theory and practice of the Third Language

In search of a language fit for the theatre Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm, the greatest Egyptian playwright, brings a significant theoretical and practical contribution to the definition of what he calls al-luġa aṯ-ṯāliṯa, the Third Language, a new variety that could solve the problem of performing on the stage a text correct from a normative linguistic perspective and comprehensible to the whole audience. A drama written in this language seems vernacular but can also be read or acted according to the norms of standard Arabic. Through three of his works the dramatist develops a linguistic theory and puts into practice its rules, starting from aṣ-Ṣafqa (1956), an example of how a text in Arabic can be neither vernacular nor standard, or can seem either vernacular or standard, continuing with aṭ-Ṭa‘ām li-kull fam (1963), written in standard Arabic but with an afterword in which al-Ḥakīm reflects on the need to search for the Third Language, and finally reaching a simplified form of standard Arabic called al-luġa al-‘arabiyya al-mubassaṭa in al-Warṭa (1966). In carrying out these experiments Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm shapes a new model of Arabic and affirms his commitment to a linguistic renewal attainable by the rapprochement between varieties, a proposal of reform not yet fulfilled

Autori egiziani degli anni Duemila. Blogosfera, graphic e postmoderno: nuovi linguaggi nel panorama letterario arabo

The first decade of the new millennium represents a crucial change for Egyptian civil society and its means of expression. This paper presents a brief overview of some new narrative forms developed in those years that were a prelude to the movement of revolt against Mubārak and his establishment. Short and long tales adapted from blogs, graphic and postmodern novels related to the web environment suggest that the free public cyberspace hosts voices of new cultural trends and is a workshop for literary creativity