LAUSR

ABSTRACT The growing phenomenon of novels using ʿammiyya (Arabic dialects) has reignited debates on the impact of local language on the regional and global trajectories of Arabic literature. While there is a long history of novelists using dialect for dialogues alongside fuṣḥā (Modern Standard Arabic, henceforth MSA), increasingly elements of ʿammiyya are incorporated throughout. This trend has been a feature of recent Egyptian novels which have been translated and marketed under the global cache of the dystopia label. While the source texts strategically evoke ʿammiyya and MSA, in translation a tension emerges between the familiarity of the dystopia genre and an effort to reclaim a linguistic spectrum for literary Arabic. Examining how translators negotiate local languages in Egyptian dystopian novels reveals the parameters that shape the production, translation and reception of Arabic literature today.