Denys Johnson-Davies on Arabic literature in translation

Literary Saloon links to a review of Modern Arabic Literature (Tresilian) in Al-Ahram by distinguished translator Johnson-Davies, which features some

mind-boggling numbers

:

Recently modern Arabic literature seems to have made several long strides all at once. It is interesting to note that in the 20 years from 1947 to 1967 a mere 20 titles from modern Arabic literature appeared in English translation. In the next 20 years the situation improved slightly with 84 titles being published in translation between 1967 and 1988. I do not have figures for the yearly number being published these days, but the position has greatly improved.