Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network
Guest: Prof. Margaret Litvin (Boston University), co-translator
Book: Memoirs of a Palestinian Communist: The Secret Life of Najati Sidqi (U Texas Press, 2025)
Host: Ibrahim Fauzi
Date: January 30, 2026

This episode explores the newly translated memoirs of Najati Sidqi, an influential Palestinian communist, anti-fascist, intellectual, and writer. Host Ibrahim Fauzi and translator Margaret Litvin discuss Sidqi's multifaceted legacy, the challenges of capturing his voice and context in translation, and the collaborative process involving undergraduate students. The conversation also delves into why Sidqi's perspective is especially resonant today, both as a window into 20th-century history and as a humanizing counterpoint to stereotyped visions of Palestinian identity.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Who Was Najati Sidqi?

• Multifaceted Figure: Sidqi is described as "the elephant and the blind man in that story. Everyone sees a different side of him." (Margaret, 01:45)
• Biography Highlights:
  • Born 1905, Jerusalem; died 1979, Athens
  • Early Arab communist who fought in the Spanish Civil War
  • Renowned translator, notably of Pushkin into Arabic
  • Prominent anti-fascist thinker and writer; published on Nazi ideology vs. Islamic traditions
  • Materialist historian and popularizer of Ibn Khaldun, Darwin, Descartes

Getting to Know Sidqi — and What Remains Elusive

• Personal Connection:

  • Litvin feels both connected to Sidqi through his family (who supported the translation project) and aware of remaining mysteries, especially regarding his emotions and personal motivations (02:56).
  • "He does not talk about his feelings very much, except when they're funny or apropos or make the political point that he wants to make." (Margaret, 03:55)

• Memoir’s Scope and Silences:

  • The memoir covers mainly 1925–1940 and is highly political—many personal aspects, especially involving his wife and family, are left out.

Navigating Absence and Editorial Choices in Translation

• What’s Left Out:
  • Sidqi omits nearly all personal material; his wife Lotke appears only as a silent helper in escapes (05:28).
  • Litvin and her co-translators respected this, adding contextual clarification only in the introduction and a comprehensive bibliographic essay, rather than footnoting or editorializing within the text.
  • “We’re not constantly telling you... ‘But actually he misremembers Lenin’s first name’... It didn’t seem conducive to a good reading experience.” (Margaret, 06:02)

Making the Memoir Accessible

• Project Elements:
  • Targeted at both scholars and undergraduates
  • Includes a map tracing Sidqi’s itinerary, a preface by his grandson, a foreword by historian Joel Beinin, substantive introduction, annotated timeline, and a detailed bibliographic essay.
  • “We have our own substantive introduction about Sidqi’s life and his style, how to read him as... a literary writer, as a chronicler of a travelogue.” (Margaret, 07:22)

The Origin of the Project – From Assignment to Book

• Student Involvement:
  • Initiated when two students, Anas and Gideon, expressed interest in translating more after Litvin’s seminar (08:53).
  • Secured research funding to support their work.
  • Each collaborator contributed unique insights:
    • Anas’s Islamic education helped with cultural/language humor
    • Gideon's background illuminated the work’s resonance with Arabic travel literature
  • Discovery of literary connections (e.g., Sidqi modeled travelogue style after Ibn Battuta) enriched both the translation and the Sidqi family’s understanding of his influences:
  • “This helps me so much to understand why he wrote the way he did and to understand his book in a different light.” (Margaret, sharing daughter Hind’s reaction, 11:50)

The Ethics of Collaboration and Giving Credit

• Authors’ Recognition:
  • Litvin insists on granting co-author credit to student collaborators, challenging the academic norm of invisible labor:
  • “For us to credit the people who do work together with us... is the easiest thing in the world. It costs nothing.” (Margaret, 12:47)
  • Emphasizes that at a certain point, mentorship becomes equal partnership.

Achieving a Unified Translational Voice

• Practical Process:
  • Used collaborative editing (Google Docs); addressed British/American English differences and historical terminology
  • Peer review and final edits enhanced uniformity
  • “We edited over each other over and over again until it was pretty even... Sidqi made it easier because he has a very strong voice.” (Margaret, 15:05)

The Political Context and the Memoir’s Relevance

• Current Climate’s Impact:
  • Litvin expresses gratitude to the publisher for releasing a book “translated from Arabic by a Palestinian author... memoirs of a Palestinian Communist. Like Palestinian and communist, two of the biggest trigger words right there on the cover in this moment.” (Margaret, 15:49)
  • Argues Sidqi offers a more nuanced, humanizing view of Palestinians—a “complete emotional, social, political human being and not just... representative of Palestine.” (Margaret, 16:40)

Translating Sidqi’s Political and Literary Layering

• Approach to Politics:
  • Sidqi’s memoir is more about “the stories and the emotional core of these interactions and the clever things he said,” than party-line ideology (Margaret, 18:15).
  • The translation team fact-checked gently in appendices, treating the memoir as literary rather than an ideological treatise.

Literary Style – The Travelogue (“Rahla”)

• Stylistic Choices:
  • Sidqi’s memoir written in a journey/travelogue style, reminiscent of classical Arabic “rihla”.
  • Litvin reads aloud a comical and revealing letter Sidqi wrote to his father about departing for Moscow, highlighting his sense of humor and self-awareness as a narrator:
    • "Jaffa, September 16, 1925. Dear Father, when you receive this letter of mine, I will be looking out at the Mediterranean Sea on my way to Moscow to seek an education. Don't be worried or upset..." (Margaret, reading Sidqi, 19:53–20:42)
  • “This is the texture of a man's life, but he's always watching himself travel and he's alert to his own story value. That's what makes it a rakhla.” (Margaret, 21:30)

What’s Next for Margaret Litvin

• Current Projects:
  • Translating The Sleepless Giraffe of Damascus by Syrian novelist Khalil Alrez (forthcoming from Archipelago, 22:18)
  • Writing an in-depth collective biography of Sidqi and his family, tentatively titled A Daughter Named: The True Story of an Impossible Palestinian Family (22:31)
    • “…want to fill in some of those gaps.” (Margaret, 22:48)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Sidqi’s Complexity:
  "Everyone sees a different side of him. He was born in 1905 in Jerusalem. He died in 1979 in Athens... The man got around."
  — Margaret Litvin (01:45)

• On Sidqi’s Emotional Reserve:
  "He does not talk about his feelings very much, except when they're funny or apropos or make the political point that he wants to make."
  — Margaret Litvin (03:55)

• On Translation Ethics:
  "We’re not constantly telling you, okay, but it didn't really happen like this... because it didn't seem conducive to a good reading experience."
  — Margaret Litvin (06:02)

• On Recognizing Co-Translators:
  "For us to credit the people who do work together with us and who inspire us and enable our work is the easiest thing in the world. It costs nothing."
  — Margaret Litvin (12:47)

• On Sidqi’s Humanity:
  "I think Palestinians deserve to be seen as complete emotional, social, political human beings and not just to be representatives of Palestine."
  — Margaret Litvin (16:40)

• Sidqi’s Own Words (Letter Excerpt):
  "Jaffa, September 16, 1925. Dear Father, when you receive this letter of mine, I will be looking out at the Mediterranean Sea on my way to Moscow to seek an education. Don't be worried or upset..."
  — Najati Sidqi (read by Margaret Litvin, 19:53–20:21)

Key Timestamps

• 01:45 — Who was Najati Sidqi?
• 02:56 — Translator’s relationship with Sidqi and his family
• 05:28 — Gaps and silences in the memoir
• 06:41 — Book structure and making it accessible
• 08:53 — How the translation project began with students
• 12:47 — On giving students proper credit as co-translators
• 14:08 — Maintaining a consistent translated voice
• 15:42 — Significance of publishing Palestinian memoir now
• 17:12 — Navigating Sidqi’s politics during translation
• 19:34 — Impact of travel literature (“rihla”) on Sidqi’s style; reading from the memoir
• 21:41 — Litvin’s ongoing translation and family biography projects

Summary Takeaways

• Najati Sidqi was a complex, multifaceted Palestinian intellectual whose memoir offers rare firsthand insight into both Palestinian and international leftist history.
• The translation, a collaborative, scholarly yet accessible project, faced unique challenges: respecting Sidqi’s silences, maintaining his strong narrative voice, and reflecting layered political and literary influences.
• Litvin and her team advocate for visible recognition of student contributions and embrace transparency in translation, both in process and in credit.
• The publication is timely, offering a textured portrayal of Palestinian identity and intellectual life at a moment of renewed political urgency.
• Sidqi emerges not merely as a political symbol but as a witty, surprising, and deeply human narrator—qualities illuminated by both the translation and Litvin’s commentary.