"The Pains Of Wandering" is a set of novelistic monologues originally written in Arabic by the late great Jordanian writer and novelist Mamdouh Abu Dalhoum my own father. It was published in 2006 and has reached great success in Jordan and elsewhere around the Middle East and North Africa. My father had always wanted to expand his audience to include those who did not speak Arabic. He dreamt of getting one of his novels translated into different languages and labeling it as "a novel from the Middle East". He was linked with an Arab French writer who showed massive interest in translating and publishing two of his works into French, one of which was this very novel. However, she disappeared without a trace after she took the approval and then declined later on. Just like that, when it seemed like the dream was on the verge of becoming a reality, it vanished and he was back to square one. I vaguely remember him telling me to try translating one of his books myself when I went to college. As soon as I made my decision of going to college abroad in the United States of America, he was excited because he believed that not only did I have the ability to translate it, but I also had the market. Indeed, now that I am in the United States the land of opportunities as my father liked to call it, I have promised myself to make this project a reality, and now it is. I believe I should probably take note of one more thing here. The title in Arabic is Awjaa al-Tetwaf. Translating this title was not easy. It took a lot of thought before I settled on "The Pains of Wandering" for many reasons. First the word "Awjaa" in Arabic means pain; both physical and emotional. I was conflicted between "pains", "sorrows", and "woes" before I was advised that "pains" is more inclusive. The second part is "al-tetwaf". This word means both wandering and wondering in this novel because the characters are inside the service cab wandering the streets while they are also wondering about their pains and sorrows and stories of injustices, poverty, and oppression and so on. Nonetheless, the actual cover of the novel in Arabic has the translation "The Pains of Wandering" on it, which settled it for me, convincing me to keep it as part of its originality.
About the Author: Mamdouh Abu Dalhoum was born in Sweileh, Amman- Jordan on July 6th, 1950. He enjoyed two simultaneous careers as a writer and as an airline station manager. He served as a station manager for Royal Jordanian Airlines in Jeddah, Masqat, Kuwait, Baghdad, and Larnaca in addition to Amman National Airport. He published over 20 books ranging from novels to short stories collections to political analyses. He wrote his first novel at the age of 17 and managed to publish it in Lebanon at 24. He continued to publish his writings throughout the years. The most recent novel came out in 2015 and there are a few others in the publishing process. He was also a columnist for al-Rai daily newspaper for three decades. In addition to that, he worked at the Jordanian Parliament as the head of the media department. He passed away on April 28th, 2014 leaving behind great literature that will cement his legacy forever.