Through Publishing in Beirut After WWII

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The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/45414 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation.

Author: Abi-Fares, H.

Title: The Modern Arabic Book: Design as Agent of Cultural Progress Issue Date: 2017-01-10

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Covers for the series of novels by Youssef El Khal (Yūsuf al-Ḫāl), entitled ʿAlā Hāmiš Kalīla wa-Dimna (In the Margin of Kalīla wa-Dimna), written in 1987 in two parts: 1. Mantiq al Ḥayawān (Animal’s Speech) (top), 2. Yawmiyyāt Kalb (Diary of a Dog) (bottom). Book design by Saad Kiwan, Arabic calligraphy by Fouad Estefan (Fuʾād Isṭfān), printed on the presses of the Imprimerie Catholique. Beirut: Dār al-Nahār, 1987.

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Chapter III

Arab Nationalism

and Socialist Cultural Projects: Activism

Through Publishing in Beirut After WWII

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Revolutionary Arabic lettering. Detail from a 1970s book cover for Ghassan Kanafani’s Arḍ al-Burtuqāl al-Ḥazīn (The Land of Sad Oranges) (Beirut: Dār al-Faǧr al-Ǧadīd, 1963).

Overleaf: lettering from a book cover for Mounir Baalbaki’s (Munīr al-Baʿalbakī) book entiled Awrāq Ṯawriyya (Revolutionary papers) (Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn, 1959).

PhD_TMAB_FinalSectionPages 4 11/22/16 1:35:12 PM

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Chapter III

Arab nationalism and socialist cultural projects:

Activism through publishing in Beirut after WWII

3.1. Post-colonial Arab socialist movements and the new Arab nations

In the aftermath of World War II, Arab nationalism took on a more nation-building direction.

A few attempts were made to build a unified Arab nation in the 1950s and 60s, under the social reform projects and direction of the Egyptian ruler Gamal Abdel Nasser (Gamāl ‘Abd al-Nāṣir, 1918–1970). The Arab world was still divided along the borders set by the previous European colonial powers, who had to retreat from the region in the face of the new emerging super-powers, namely the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union. Although the unification of all Arab countries into one Arab mega-nation did not materialize, the feeling of unity through a shared language and culture grew stronger. This was in part due to the circulation of news and images between the various Arab countries, but also through the migration of workers and various collaborations among the newly established independent Arab states. Two conferences that took place first in Alexandria in 1944, and then in Cairo in 1945 led to the founding of the League of Arab States by the initial members:

Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. By the mid 1950s, most Arab countries that were formerly under European rule had become fully independent, and witnessed major social changes. Of the changes that are relevant to this research is the growing urban culture which made literacy and the acquisition of professional skills imperative for survival.

The pace of growth of the number of universities and schools reflected the goals set by the new states to educate their respective populations at a rapid pace. This eventually led to a lowering of standards of the public schools (especially in countries with large populations like Egypt), that were characterized by their crowded classrooms, poorly qualified teachers and inadequate resources. This in turn affected the university level education which tended to be academic (directed towards civil service and liberal professions) rather than technical or scientific. Next to the public universities the old foreign missionaries’ private educational institutions continued to flourish and cater to the wealthier parts of society. By now there was an increasing amount of intellectual material in the Arabic language, and this material propagated by print media and mass communication, was available to all Arab countries. A new common Arab popular culture was born on the airwaves of radio broadcast out of Cairo to the rest of the Arab world. “‘The Voice of

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the Arabs’, beamed from Egypt to the surrounding countries, expressing in strident tones the aspirations of the Arabs as Egypt saw them. Certain Egyptian voices became familiar everywhere—

that of the country’s ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser and that of the most famous of Egyptian singers, Umm Kulthum (Umm Kulṯūm, 1904?–1975)⁴³⁷—when she sang, the whole Arab world listened.”⁴³⁸ Although education and mass media brought the general public some form of political participation, the true elements that “set the tone for popular nationalism came from other sources.”⁴³⁹ First, the idea of the ‘Third World’ (of countries belonging to the former colonial empires) exercised a collective power; second, ‘Arab unity’ that sprang from shared language and common interests; and third, ‘Socialism’ that advanced “the idea of the control of resources by government in the interests of society, […] through direction of production, […] equitable distribution of income […] and the provision of social services.”⁴⁴⁰

The growing popularity of these socialist ideas reflected the political ideas being formulated elsewhere in the world from Europe, to Asia and South America. The spread of Marxist ideology was also due to its translation into Arabic and its articulation within the Arab context. Several authors took to writing critiques and literary works that expressed this ideology, focusing on the struggle of the individual in the face of imperialism, and mirroring the reality of the working class.

These socialist ideas eventually developed into movements that combined nationalism and socialism in a manner that was suitable for each particular nation’s society—for example, the socialist/nationalist Baath (Baʿṯ) parties in Syria and Iraq, and the Nasserist party in Egypt. The latter stood for a reformist version of Islam and endorsed secular social reform. It introduced Arab socialism as an ideology that remained a symbol of Arab unity and revolution for many Arabs well into the 1970s-1980s.⁴⁴¹

From 1948, the Palestinian refugees that were scattered in various Arab countries, were stateless and had only the Arab League as their spokesman, but in 1964, the Arab League established for them a separate entity to represent them: the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which was originally under Egyptian-Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi army control. In 1964, the PLO merged with the independent grass-roots Palestinian organization Fatah (Fatḥ), who along with other smaller Nasserist/Marxist Palestinian revolutionary organizations was committed to armed resistance and confrontation with the state of Israel. In 1967, the defeat in the war against Israel

437 Virginia L. Danielson. “Umm Kulthum. Egyptian musician”. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Web. http://www.britannica.com/biography/

Umm-Kulthum-Egyptian-musician. Last Updated 10-13-2014. Last consulted: 23 February 2016.

438 Op. cit. Hourani, 389–393.

439 Op. cit. Hourani, 401.

440 Ibid. Hourani, 401.

441 Op. cit. Hourani, 405–406.

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gradually led to the moral defeat of the Arabs and Arab Socialism—and Nasserism in particular.

It weakened what had been an illusion of Arab unity and solidarity. Slowly Egypt also changed its political and economic policies; under Anwar Sadat (Anwar al-Sādāt, 1918–1981, the successor of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970) it adopted a liberal policy towards economic development, foreign policy and Western investment. An interdependence grew between oil-producing states and the poorer Arab states: the latter supplying the wealthy developing oil-states in the Gulf with educated and skilled migrants, and the wealthier oil-states bolstering the economic growth and strength of the poorer Arab states. Though this migration brought Arab peoples in closer contact reinforcing the sense of shared culture, it also brought about an awareness of the singularity of each national culture and underlined regional differences. The 1970s tended to lead to greater ‘Arab disunity’, and the war of 1973 between Israel and Egypt put the final nail into whatever common front had seemed to exist between modern Arab states.⁴⁴² It was the end of Arab nationalism (and idealism), followed by a long period of relative stability of the Arab regimes until the end of the 20th century

—with the exception of Lebanon that suffered a long and grueling civil war from 1975 to 1992.

3.2. Beirut’s ‘Gilded Age’: 1945 – 1975

To borrow an expression from Samir Khalaf, the post-World War II period and beginning of the young and independent Lebanese republic was Beirut’s ‘gilded age’. Beirut’s political and liberal atmosphere in the late 1940s–1960s, with its democratic government protecting the freedom of the press, and with its independent publishing houses, made the city a refuge for liberal Arab intellectual production.⁴⁴³ This was translated into the publishing of politically controversial works and ideologies that challenged the traditional beliefs and the established Arab political class.

Beirut became the place to publish what could not be published elsewhere in the Arab world, and from where the most daring works could be distributed to the rest of the Arab world.⁴⁴⁴ Following the nationalization of the publishing industry in Egypt in the 1960s, Beirut’s publishing industry flourished further. Beirut’s openness to Arab markets gave its publishers and printers ample experience and helped modernize their book production proficiency.⁴⁴⁵ High quality printing

442 Op. cit. Hourani, 426.

443 Franck Mermier, “La Culture comme enjeu de la métropolisation: capitales et foires du livre dans l’Orient arabe,” Cahier de la Méditerranée 64 (2002): Les enjeux de la métropolisation en Méditerranée. http://cdlm.revues.org/index74.html. PDF

444 Op. cit. Mermier, “La Culture comme enjeu.”

445 Op. cit. Bizri, 14–15.

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and book binding enabled the production of finely printed books to be produced and their export to the rich gulf states.

Along with these regional (and national) factors, a new socially-driven, politically-engaged and intellectual social class emerged that was keen on developing a new type of publishing. Young idealist intellectuals started their own publishing houses, following in the footsteps of their predecessors, like Dār al-Makšūf. They were inspired by the French intellectual movements of the 1960s and the belief that literature can play a powerful role in active political engagement. Political activism took shape and was disseminated through the medium of critical/literary journals, books, contemporary Arabic literature, and translations of European literature and philosophy. Of the leading intellectual journals that were founded in this period in Beirut, al-Ṭarīq (1941) and Al-Ādāb (1953) were progressive in their content and exercised an influence amongst the young generation of readers/activists.⁴⁴⁶ There were publishing houses that were directly connected to political parties like Dār al-Ṭalīʿa (founded in 1960 by the pan-Arab Baathist, Bashir Al-Daouk, Bašīr al-Dāʾūq, 1931-2007)⁴⁴⁷ and Dār al-Fārābī (founded and originally run by the Lebanese Communist Party, 1956–), and others that were independent liberal leftists like Dār Al-Ādāb (which built upon its founder’s liberal socialist ideas, 1950–), Dār al-Nahār (discussed in the previous chapter), and al-Muʾassasa al-ʿArabiyya lil-Dirāsāt wa al-Našr (also known as the Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, 1969–, that supported in some form Arab Nationalist ideals and the Palestinian liberation cause). Of course there were also publishing houses with a more educational focus, like Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn (1945–) and Dār al-Mašriq (the publishing successor of the Imprimerie Catholique since 1972–). This flourishing of progressive publishing eventually led to the

establishment of the first Arab Book Fair in 1956 which set a trend in the Arab world and remains an important yearly event for Lebanon and the Arab region to this day.

As the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) relocated from Jordan to Beirut in the early 1970s, it found local support amongst the leftist allied Lebanese political parties, and fervour amongst artists, intellectuals, and leftist youth movements. Meanwhile, Beirut in the sixties was living its heydays as the cosmopolitan centre of the Arab world. The city enchanted businessmen, tourists, artists and intellectuals from the region to partake in its adventure of modernity. With

446 Op. cit. Stefan Winkler, “Distribution of Ideas: Book Production and Publishing in Egypt, Lebanon, and the Middle East,” Mass Media, Politics Society in the Middle East. Ed. Kai Hafez, (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2001) 164–165. Op. cit. Kameel Hawa, 2012.

Appendix IV.

447 Elie Chalala. “Bashir al-Daouk (1931-2007) In Memoriam: Farewell to Publisher Hero.” Al Jadid, Vols. 13/14, nos. 58/59 (2007/2008).

“The list of the causes Daouk championed is long – anti-colonialism, Baathism, Arab nationalism, Palestine, social and economic justice, and women’s rights, just to name a few. While the space to fully detail Daouk’s political and intellectual interests is lacking, his most prominent cause, at least in my opinion, is the self-reflection and self-criticism that he encouraged following the Arab defeat in 1967. His stance was reflected in Dar Al Talia’s numerous publishings on the subject, as well as in the hundreds of studies that found a home on the pages of his journal, Dirasaat Arabiyya [Dirāsāt ʿArabiyya], which he founded in 1965. These contributions were paramount in exposing the social, political, and economic conditions that led to the disastrous setback of 1967.”

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a thriving cultural and art scene—international music festivals, burgeoning art galleries, venues for alternative theatre productions, in addition to vigorous publishing houses—and enjoying the intellectual freedom that neighbouring Arab countries lacked at the time. Beirut in the 1960s became the liberal cultural center of the Arab world. While the 'Paris of the East' (as was Beirut nicknamed) thrilled its dwellers and visitors with a booming economy and assimilation of Western models of consumerism and modern lifestyles, a large segment of the Lebanese population

was publicly voicing its economic deprivation and demanding political and social reforms. In describing the rising number of protests and demonstrations that swept the country at the time, Fawwaz Traboulsi notes:

“Much more than a protest movement, it was a radical questioning of Lebanese and Arab societies from a moral and cultural point of view, greatly influenced by the defeat of June 1967, the emergence of the Palestinian resistance and the impact of May 1968 in France."⁴⁴⁸

3.3. Political activism through publishing

The democratic attitude of the Lebanese government and its protection of freedom of expression, gave Beirut’s publishing industry a regional advantage. Beirut in the 1960s became a refuge for Arab intellectuals who were persecuted or censored in their own countries, thus becoming a haven and center for intellectual production. It was the public arena where the most daring cultural and political movements were created and disseminated to the rest of the Arab world. The publishing industry became diverse; ranging from the commercial to the culturally and politically-engaged establishments. Often closely connected to the press, book publishing’s intellectual and artistic production reflected the socio-political developments in the region. Books on controversial political and progressive ideas were produced and distributed to the rest of the Arab nations. At the same time, printers in Beirut invested in and remained up-to-date with the latest technical and artistic developments of the printing industry. This latter further contributed to Beirut’s established role as the center for Arab publishing.

Most ‘progressive publishing’ of the 1960s-1970s was undertaken by various left-wing

(socialist, communist and Arab nationalist) movements—often motivated by the Palestinian cause and directly or indirectly supporting it. The Arab Cultural Club (al-Nādī al-Ṯaqāfī al-ʿArabī),

founded in 1944, was one of the cultural organizations upholding the Arab Nationalist agenda. Its members believed in building a modern Arab culture throught the moderniztion of both the

448 Fawwaz Traboulsi, A History of Modern Lebanon (London: Pluto Press, 2007) 169.

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Arabic language and the educational system (especially for children). Some young members, such as the designer Kameel Hawa (Kamīl Ḥawwa, b. 1947), started on their own initiative and account the club’s magazine al-Ṯaqāfā al-ʿArabiyya. This magazine came out in four or five special issues:

the first was on modern Arab poetry, one on Arab unity, one on colonialism, one on the Arab student movement, and one on Lebanon.⁴⁴⁹Such leftist journals acquired a particular visual language of their own that came to define the ‘activist look’, and found its way in political and progressive types of literary publications.⁴⁵⁰ After Hawa’s experience with this magazine,⁴⁵¹ he worked part-time with Ghassan Kanafani (Ġassān Kanafānī, 1936–1972)⁴⁵² at the supplement of al-Anwār newspaper (launched by Dār al-Ṣayyād in 1959), designing the four-page supplement on the 1968 student movement in Beirut. The Arab Cultural Club organized several cultural events and was instrumental in launching the first Arab Book Fair which started as a small event in the West Hall at the American University of Beirut, and soon after become an independent and important event that takes place every year in Beirut up until today.⁴⁵³ This book fair can be considered a continuation (and professionalization) of the first Arab book fair launched by the cultural society, al-ʿUrwa al-Wuṯqā, which also took place at the American University of Beirut in 1952 and 1953.⁴⁵⁴

449 Op. cit. Hawa, 2012. Appendix IV.

450 The lettering of this magazine’s masthead was his first design piece. It revealed the unique line quality of his drawings and his natural visual talent. As students, they had little money to produce the club’s magazine so they collected the left-over printed sheets from newspapers, brought them to their printer to have them collated and made ready for printing. Not only was the quality of the paper very poor, but also the way the magazine was typeset was less than optimal. The columns of text were set by metal types and printed, the printed papers were then used for the paste-up of the desired layout, which was used for producing films and offset printing plates. Finally the plates were offset printed on newsprint. The resulting sharpness of the typography was uneven, sometimes the text was thinner and lighter in some parts and more saturated in others. Op. cit. Hawa, 2012. Appendix IV.

451 Al-Ṯaqāfā al-’Arabiyya magazine was Kameel Hawa’s first design job and what later launched his career into graphic design. His work with Ghassan Kanafani was the start of his work in journalism. Today he combines both skills in his editorial design work for client of his design studio, Al Mohtaraf/Beirut Graphics, that he founded in 1983 in Beirut, and that has also several branches in Saudi Arabia. Op. cit. Hawa, 2012. Appendix IV.

452 Ghassan Kanafani was a Palestinian writer and a leading member of the FPLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).

He was a prominent political thinker, militant and journalist. For Kanafani, literature was the shaping spirit behind his politics. His obituary in Lebanon's Daily Star described him as a 'commando who never fired a gun' whose 'weapon was a ball-point pen and his arena was newspaper pages.’ Cf. His literary style is lucid and his modernist narrative techniques represent a new leap forward for Arab fiction. In 1962 his novel, Riǧāl fi al-Šams (Men in the Sun), one of the most admired and quoted works in modern Arabic fiction, received great critical acclaim. He has written many books of fiction, short stories, plays, and critical political studies. On July 8, 1972 he was assassinated by the Mossad (the Israeli Secret Service). Cf. Amy Zalman."Gender and the Palestinian Narrative of Return in Two Novels by Ghassan Kanafani.” Yasir Suleiman and Ibrahim Muhawi. Literature and Nation in the Middle East.

(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press: 2006) 48–77. Ihab Saloul. Catastrophe and Exile in the Modern Palestinian Imagination:

Telling Memories. Palgrave Macmillan: 2012. Matthew Abraham, Intellectual Resistance and the Struggle for Palestine. (New York:

Palgrave Macmillan: 2014). Orit Bashkin. "'Nationalism as a Cause: Arab Nationalism in the writings of Ghassan Kanafani." Christoph Schumann, Ed. Nationalism and Liberal Thought in the Arab East: Ideology and Practice. (New York: Routledge: 2010) 92–111. Cf.

Ghassan Kanafani's website. Last consulted: 23 February 2016. http://www.ghassankanafani.com.

453 Op. cit. Hawa, 2012. Appendix IV.

454 Op. cit. Bizri, 121. “Maʿraḍ al-kitāb al-ʿarabī,” Al-Ādāb 6 (1953): 74.

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Throughout the Lebanese Civil War, the work of publishing houses that had direct relation to that leftist youth culture continued to thrive up until the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the defeat of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).⁴⁵⁵ Many of the leftist and pro- Palestinian publishers diminished in potency and their production suffered some set backs, but some survived. Dār Al-Ādāb regained its position as market leader for contemporary Arabic literature and fiction after the end of the Lebanese civil war. Al-Muʾassasa al-ʿArabiyya lil-Dirāsāt wa al-Našr (Arab Institute for Research and Publishing) moved its main headquarters to Amman in 1989 (while maintaining an office in Beirut) and continued producing serious research studies of a political and social nature, winning awards and gaining visibility in the Arab market. Whereas the children’s book publisher, Dār al-Fatā al-ʿArabī, first moved to Cairo in 1982, then ceased publishing altogether in 1994.

I selected these three publishing houses as representatives of this era in Arab book

publishing. Their importance lies in the significant design conventions they have forged that have left a visible mark on today’s Arab publishing trends. Several prominent and socially-engaged Arab artists and designers collaborated with them on producing books that have raised the standards of Arabic book design and presented inspiring models for future designers. Through the study of their work, this chapter examines their socialist/leftist editorial directions and the way they were translated into distinct visual identity programs and innovative design strategies, thus highlighting the role that books and their visual design have played in the propagation of political engagement and social activism in 1950s-1980s Beirut.

455 For the sake of brevity, their work is not discussed in this research more information on these publishing houses can be consulted in the folowing: Frank Mermier, Le Livre et la Ville : Beyrouth et l’édition arabe (Paris: Actes Sud-Sindbad, 2005). Hala Bizri, “Le Livre et L’Edition au Liban dans la Première Moitié du XXe Siècle : Essai de reconstitution d’une mémoire disparue,” Unpublished Doctorate Thesis. (Versailles: Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 2013) 176–178.

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Sample books covers from the 1950s–1970s by Dār al-Ādāb. Top two covers are for the early novels of author and founder of Dār al-Ādāb, Souheil Idriss. Top left: Al-Ḥayy al-Lātīnī (The Latin Qarter/Qartier Latin, 1960); top right: Al-Ḫandaq al-Ġamīq (The Deep Trench, 1958). Bottom left: Min al-Qāhira ilā Muʿtaqal Qāsim (From Cairo to Qasim detention center, 1963) cover design and lettering by the Syrian artist and designer Abdelkader Arnaout (ʿAbd al-Qādir Arnāūṭ). Bottom right: cover for Ḥanna Mīna’s book al-Šams fi Yawm Ġāʾim (The Sun on a Cloudy Day, 1978). All four covers display unique and expressive lettering and illustration styles.

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3.4. Dār al-Adāb (1956–present)

Following in the tradition of publishing houses that debuted as magazines or newspapers (like the ones discussed in the previous chapter), Dār Al-Ādāb was also founded by a visionary individual young man, who began his career in literary journalism, then went on to establish one of the Arab world’s most read and longest surviving literary magazine Al-Ādāb (1953–present). Dār Al-Ādāb was established as a politically engaged cultural project at the forefront of contemporary Arabic literary production. Three years later he founded a publishing house by the same name Dār Al-Ādāb (1956-present). Its founder Suhail Idriss (Suhayl Idrīs, 1925–2008) passed away leaving as legacy a unique Arabic literary journal and publishing house. The journal is run by his widow, the author/translator Aida Matraji-Idriss (ʿAyda Maṭraǧī Idrīs, n.d.) and his son, the author and critic Dr Samah Idriss (Samāḥ Idrīs, b. 1961) as editor-in-chief since 1992. The publishing house is managed by his daughter Rana Idriss (Rana Idrīs, n.d.). More than forty years since its inception, both journal and publishing house have experienced further development and modernization under the second generation’s leadership, while remaining independent in its vision, and true to its original cultural orientation.

3.4.1. Dr. Suheil Idriss (Suhayl Idrīs, 1925 – 2008) founder and editor

Dr. Suheil Idriss, the founder and director of Dār Al-Ādāb, was a journalist, author-novelist, translator, linguist, lexicographer and cultural activist. As author and publisher, his personal and professional experiences sowed the seeds for his life-long commitment and social engagement through literary production. He was born in Beirut in 1929 to a conservative middle-class Muslim family—his father was a merchant and an imam. He did his primary studies at the Kulliyat

al-Maqāṣid al-Islāmiyya (al-Maqāṣid Islamic College), where in 1932 he was chosen to continue his studies at Al-Kulliya al-Šarʿiyya (the College of Islamic Canonical Law, in Beirut). In 1940 he shed his religious garb, in 1942 he graduated from high school, and in 1943 he joined the Law School of the Jesuit University (Université Saint Joseph).⁴⁵⁶ He was forced to work to support himself while studying which had negative effects on his academic performance. He discontinued his study and instead engaged in a journalistic career,⁴⁵⁷ writing for the newspapers Bayrūt and Bayrūt al-Masāʾ (Beirut Evening), and the magazines al-Ǧadīd (The New) and al-Ṣayyād (The Hunter, where he

456 Op. cit. Karīm Muruwwa, “Suhayl Idrīs”, Ḏikra: Al-Ādāb 12 (2008) 116.

457 Ibid. Muruwwa, 116

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held the post of editor).⁴⁵⁸ He continued developing his literary talent and writing criticism and short (love) stories for the Lebanese literary journals al-Makšūf and al-Adīb (the Author), and the Syrian journals al-Ṣabāḥ (The Morning) and al-Nuqqād (The Critics), from 1943 until 1949. In 1949, he stopped his journalistic work and left to study in Paris where he received a Doctorate degree in Arabic literature from the Sorbonne University. This was the year following the Palestinian Nakba of 1948 (the expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians after the declaration of the state of Israel, that Palestinians and Arabs call the catastrophe – al-Nakba). It was according to Idriss the year when Arab intellectuals felt compelled to get more politically engaged and to use literary production as a means of resistance⁴⁵⁹ against injustice, colonialism and occupation. Like the intellectuals of his time, he took up this cause, resigned from his work at the several newspapers and radio programs he contributed to regularly, and left Beirut for Paris, to further educate himself to better serve the larger Arab Nationalist cause.⁴⁶⁰ He enrolled in the Sorbonne University in Paris where in 1952 he earned a Doctorate in Arabic Literature for his thesis entitled “Al-Riwāya al- ʿArabiyya al-Ḥadīṯa wa al-Taʾṯīrāt al-Aǧnabiyya Fīha, 1900-1950” (The Effects of Foreign Influences on the Modern Arab Novel from 1900 to 1950).⁴⁶¹ During his stay in Paris, he encountered many young Arab intellectuals, and in his conversations with them he became convinced that he had to set up a literary journal for the Arab world, a journal that would include in its fold young and culturally engaged Arab authors. He consulted some of his older acquaintances about this and received encouragement to pursue his project.⁴⁶²

After his return to Beirut, he launched into the establishment of the journal Al-Ādāb in 1953.

He did not have sufficient personal funds of his own to do this, so he formed a partnership with his friends Bahīǧ ʿUṯmān and Munīr al-Bʿalbakī of Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn.⁴⁶³ They funded the journal and he became its editor-in-chief. That same year he became a professor of Contemporary Arabic Literature at the Lebanese University (the university had just been founded two years earlier), and was also assigned the position of Professor of Arabization, Translation and Criticism

458 Muḥammad Abi Samra, “Bayna al-Wuǧūd wa al-iltizām al-Qawmī” (Between Existence and Nationalist Engagement),” Beirut, Mulḥaq Ǧaridat al-Nahār (al-Nahār Supplement), Online. Posted: 9 February 2013. http://mhamadabisamra.wordpress.com/

2013/02/16/

459 Al-Šāḏilī Zūkār. “Hiwār lam Yunšar maʿa D. Suhayl Idrīs. ʿAn al-Šiʿr, wa al-Kitāb, wa al-Ḥubb, wa Šarāʾiʿ al-Aqlām” (An unpublished discussion with Dr Suhail Idriss, on poetry, the book, love and the rules of the pen). Al-Ādāb 7/8/9 (2008) 89.

460 Op. cit.Al-Šāḏilī Zūkār, 90.

461 Andrea Shalal-Esa,”The Politics of Getting Published: The Continuing Struggle of Arab-American Writers”, Al Jadid, 15, 60 (2009) http://www.aljadid.com/content/politics-getting-published-continuing-struggle-arab-american-writers

462 Ibid. Zūkār, 89.

463 Op. cit. Muruwwa, 116.

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at the Maqāṣid Islamic College.⁴⁶⁴ In 1956, he left Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn to run the journal independently,⁴⁶⁵ becoming the sole owner and editor of Al-Ādāb. In that same year, he founded with his friend the poet Nizār Qabbānī the publishing house Dār Al-Ādāb. However in 1961, Qabbānī had to resign from Dār Al-Ādāb due to a conflict of interest between this and his work as a Syrian diplomat.⁴⁶⁶

His contribution to cultural life began with his work at the Maqāṣid Islamic Institute where he organized lecture series and symposia inviting several Arab authors and thinkers. One of the most significant of these symposia was a debate between Taha Hussein (Ṭāhā Ḥusayn, 1889–1973) and Raif Khoury (Raʾīf Ḫūrī, 1913-1967): the first calling for ‘literature for literature’s sake’ and wanting to liberate literature from any social or political function, and the second, affirming that literature should be ‘responsible’ and that its primary function is to be of service to life and humanity.⁴⁶⁷ Suhail Idriss’ cultural engagement went beyond his editorial work to include his position as secretary general (in 1967) of the al-Laǧna al-Lubnāniyya li-Kuttāb Āsia wa Afrīqiya (the Lebanese Committee for Asian and African Writers). The next year (in 1968) he established in collaboration with the authors Constantin Zureik (Qusṭantīn Zrayq, 1909–2000), Mounir Baalbaki (Munīr Bʿalbakī, 1918–1999), Adonis (Adūnīs, pseudonum of ʿAli Aḥmad Saʿīd Isbir, b. 1930), and Joseph Moghaizel (Jūzīf Muġayzil, 1924–1995) the Ittiḥād al-Kuttāb al-Lubnāniyyīn (the Union of Lebanese Writers), for which he was elected as secretary general, at different intervals between 1968−1991.⁴⁶⁸

In addition to his editorial and cultural engagements, he continued working as a writer, publishing in 1953 his semi-autobiographical trilogy Al-Ḥayy al-Lātīnī (The Quartier Latin, the area in Paris where he lived and socialized during his student years there). The book addressed life in Paris in the 1950s and the aspirations of the young Arab intellectuals and their quest for cultural definition. His other renowned books include Al-Ḫandaq al-Ġamīq published in 1958 (about the area in Beirut where he was born, his youth, and the traditions of his old neighborhood); and Aṣābiʿunā allati Taḥtariq (Our Fingers that are Burning) published in 1962. This latter traces the life of a young rebellious/idealist intellectual, his cultural, political and intellectual transformation, and his ambition to engage in his society’s progress and liberation.⁴⁶⁹ Dār Al-Ādāb also published

465 Op. cit. Abi Samra, “Bayna al-Wuǧūd”.

466 Ibid. Muruwwa, 116. Cf. Samah Idriss. Interview: Skype, 23 February 2012. Appendix V.

467 Ibid. Muruwwa, 116.

468 Ibid. Muruwwa, 116.

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his latest biography Ḏikrayāt al-Adab wa al-Ḥubb (Memories of Literature and Love, 2005); a few collections of his short stories Aqāṣīṣ Ūlā (First Stories, 1977), Aqāṣīṣ Ṯāniya (Second Stories, 1977), Al-Damʿ al-Murr (Bitter Tears, 1956), Raḥmāki Ya Dimašq (God Bless you Damascus, 1965), Al-Arāʾ (The Opinions, 1977); and critical writings for Al-Ādāb journal Fi Muʿtarak al-Qawmiyya wa al-Ḥurriyya (On the Struggle for Nationalism and Freedom) and Mawāqif wa Qaḍāya Adabiyya (Stances and Literary Issues). His older short stories (prior to the founding of Dār Al-Ādāb) included Ašwāq (Longings, 1947), Nīrān wa Ṯulūǧ (Fire and Snow, 1948), Kulluhun Nisāʾ (They are All Women, 1949), and his novel Sarāb (Mirage) published as a series in Bayrūt al-Masāʾ newspaper in 1948. He also translated several books of leftist authors and thinkers he admired, whose work he felt would contribute to the further progress and renewal of contemporary Arab intellectual life.

He translated works for the likes of the French liberal socialist thinker Jean-Paul Sartre, Regis Debray, Marguerite Duras, Albert Camus and Vladimir Nabokov.⁴⁷⁰

Finally to crown his cultural and intellectually productive career, he produced in

collaboration with Jabbour Abdelnour (Jabbūr ʿAbd al-Nūr, 1913-1991) his renowned French-Arabic Dictionaries al-Manhal al-Qarīb (1980), al-Manhal al-Waṣīṭ (1981), al-Manhal (1985), which were originally published by Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn and then republished in new editions in 2007 by Dār Al-Ādāb. He had been working for more than two decades with his son Dr Samah Idriss and Dr Sobhi El Saleh (Ṣubḥī al-Ṣāliḥ, 1925–1986) on an Arabic-Arabic dictionary, which is near completion.⁴⁷¹

In 1992, he felt that after 40 years it was time to bring fresh blood into the journal, so he entrusted its editorial direction to his son, Dr. Samah Idriss who had returned in 1991 from his studies at Columbia University in New York with a Doctorate degree in Arabic literature and literary criticism.⁴⁷² Samah Idriss was qualified for the job and his father gave him the freedom to take the journal towards a new orientation—though he nonetheless chose to continue the progressive cultural project started by his father, albeit with different nuances that are more grounded in the contemporary reality of Arab societies today.⁴⁷³

470 Ruba ʿAṭiyya, “Tarāǧuʿ Al-Ādāb huwa Tarāǧuʿ al-Āmāl al-Kabīra baʿda Naksat 67,” Al-Dustūr newspaper. Online. Posted: 16 April 2010. http://www.addustour.com

471 ʿImād Ḫašān, “Suhail Idriss,” Banipal, 31 (2008), http://www.banipal.co.uk/contributors/544/suhail-idriss/

472 Op. cit. Zūkār, 90.

473 Op. cit. ʿAṭiyya, “Tarāǧuʿ Al-Ādāb”.

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3.4.2. Origins: Al-Ādāb journal (1953–present)

Al-Ādāb is a secular, independent, leftist, Arab Nationalist, literary and cultural journal, that supports freedom of expression and liberal thinking. It is no coincidence that Al-Ādāb journal was originally launched in partnership with Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn. In the 1950s, Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn was closely connected to leftist youth and the Arab Nationalist movements that gravitated towards the cultural group, al-ʿUrwa al-Wuṯqā (The Tight Knot), at the American University of Beirut. Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn was publishing then for intellectuals such as Constantin Zureik (Qusṭantīn Zurayq, 1909–2000), who was a professor at the American University of Beirut at the time, and for whom they published one of his powerful books, Maʿna al-Nakba (The Meaning of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948).⁴⁷⁴ This leftist and Arab Nationalist ideology came to define Al-Ādāb’s political orientation and editorial policy.⁴⁷⁵

Al-Ādāb’s byline: “Maǧalla Šahriyya Tuʿna bi Šuʾūn al-Fikr (A monthly journal dealing with the topics of thought)”⁴⁷⁶ which appeared from its first issue, clearly states the ambition of the journal and its founder (and its current editorial director) on becoming the intellectual’s reference on contemporary cultural matters (marǧaʿ al-muṯaqqaf al-ʿarabī).⁴⁷⁷ The Al-Ādāb journal was Suheil Idriss’ original project and his means to effect cultural change within the Arab world.

Founded shortly after his return to Beirut in 1953, he believed in the literary journal’s ability to become a means for connecting life and politics to what was important to society’s needs.

Conceived as a journal for contemporary poetry and literary criticism, Al-Ādāb’s ‘liberal leftist’

direction was modeled after French Marxist thought, namely Jean-Paul Sartre’s ideas that literature should be a political engagement that meets the needs of society.⁴⁷⁸ He believed that social

relevance is the raw material that informs literature and gives cultural production an active political function. In his opening editorial of Al-Ādāb’s first issue of Janurary 1953, Dr Suhail Idriss states:

“At this very dangerous turn of contemporary Arab history, there grows amongst Arab youth a feeling for the need of a literary journal that carries a truly responsible message. And the publishing of Al-Ādāb stems from this awareness of this vital need.”⁴⁷⁹

476 Cf. Al-Ādāb, Vol.1, No.1, January 1953 (Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn, 1953) Cover.

477 Dār Al-Ādāb catalogue 2011, 64.

478 Op. cit. Idriss, 2012. Appendix V. Op. cit. Bizri, 109–110.

479 Suhayl Idrīs. “Risālat Al-Ādāb” (The mission of literature). Al-Ādāb, Vol.1, No.1, January 1953 (Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn, 1953) 1 Translated by the author of this thesis.

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In this editorial he goes on to state the main pillars of the journal’s mission. First, the journal believes in literature as a intellectual activity that both reflects and engages with society; for literature to be honest it should not be distant from the society which it inhabits. Second, the journal aims to be a platform for the responsible ‘people of the pen’ (ahl al-qalam) who are working towards the reforming of society by useful means. “The literature that this magazine calls for is the engaged literature (adab al-iltizām) that originates from Arab society and pours back into it.”⁴⁸⁰ This ‘engaged literature’ is an [Arab] nationalist literature that seeks to directly connect to humanist literary production, and that calls for social justice, freedom and human rights.

The journal aims to present to foreign literary circles a true image of Arab intellectual activities, through research, studies, and criticism, valorizing both Arab literary heritage as well as new literary production, allowing for a diversity of opinions and points of view. In the field of the short stories, the journal aims to encourage a young generation of authors that will accurately portay their era. Idriss ends his editorial by promising that Al-Ādāb is going to be an important reference on modern Arab literature to be consulted by anyone interested in Arab intellectual activities of all kinds and from all Arab nations.

In Al-Ādāb, Idriss strove to balance liberal socialism with Arab Nationalist ideology (a kind of contextualized Marxism) that defended freedom of thought and expression.⁴⁸¹ He coined the term al-iltizām fi muwāǧahat al-ilzām (loosely translated as “engagement in confronting compulsion or subjugation”).⁴⁸² This was a call against Communist regimes that have curbed freedom of

expression and were actively persecuting intellectuals and socialist thinkers, in countries like Syria, Iraq and Egypt. One of the authors who wrote on this, Raif Khoury, was a pillar of Al-Ādāb until his death.⁴⁸³ From its first issue onwards, Al-Ādāb published the works of Arab thinkers, from different Arab nations, who were committed to the same ideology, including correspondents who reported on politics and cultural developments in their own respective nations. Its articles addressed contemporary culture with topics covering Arab literary criticism, the actuality of the Arabic language and its use, the weakness and decline of the Arabic theater,⁴⁸⁴ the condition of the Arab intellectual, and other questions touching on politics. It was a serious platform that published long critical pieces on Arab cultural production from the 1950s-1970s—and continues to do so today.

480 Suhayl Idrīs. “Risālat Al-Ādāb” (The mission of literature). Al-Ādāb, Vol.1, No.1, January 1953 (Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn, 1953) 1.

481 Op. cit. Samah Idriss, 2012. Appendix V.

483 Op. cit.ʿAṭiyya, “Tarāǧuʿ Al-Ādāb”.

484 Op. cit. Bizri, 109.

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Like its editor, the interest in the Arabic language and linguistics was evident throughout the magazine. Idriss himself and the journal’s pillar, Raif Khoury, developed neologisms that coined new ‘modern’ terms—previously non-existent in the classical Arabic language—and thus

extended Arabic semantics and advanced a new vocabulary for the contemporary Arabic language.

This made of Al-Ādāb a podium for discussions amongst linguists, professors of the Arabic

language, and the authors that committed their texts to its pages.⁴⁸⁵ Some of the authors to whose reputation Al-Ādāb has contributed have included: the poets Khalil Hawi (Ḫalīl Ḥāwī, 1919–1982), Amal Dunkul (Amal Dunqul, 1940–1983), Nazik Al-Malaika (Nāzik al-Malāʾika, 1923–2007), Nizar Qabbani (Nizār Qabbānī, 1923–1998), Mahmoud Darwish (Maḥmūd Darwīš, 1942–2008); the critics Sabri Hafez (Ṣabrī Ḥāfiẓ, b. 1939), Faisal Darraj (Fayṣal Darrāǧ, B. 1943), Raja Al-Naccache (Raǧāʾ al-Naqqāš, 1934–2008); and the writers Youssef El Sharouni (Yūsuf al-Šārūnī, a criticb. 1924), Hani Al-Raheb (Hānī al-Rāhib, 1939–2000), and many more of that 1950s generation,⁴⁸⁶ for whom being published in a well-read and respected journal was important for advancing their career and expanding their readership.

The 1967 defeat of the Arab armies against the Israeli army was a moment when Arab youth was mobilized. Taking their cue from the student movement in France in 1968, and in the face of the oppression of leftist movements in Syria, Iraq and Egypt, their anger was channeled into support for the Palestinian armed struggle.⁴⁸⁷ At the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War,

Al-Ādāb with their offices in the vicinity of the Arab University (then the center of leftist political activism) became a platform for revolutionary Palestinian poetry, publishing the works of

Mahmoud Darwish, Rashad Abu Shawar (Rašād Abu Šāwār, b. 1942), Ghassan Kanafani (Ġassān Kanafānī, 1936–1972), Naji Alloush (Nāǧī ʿAllūš, 1935–2012), among others.⁴⁸⁸ The ‘Palestinian idea’

as defined by Edward Said, became more than a land-liberation struggle and more of a struggle for justice and freedom. Cultural and literary production had to take a back seat, and dedicated literary journals diminished in urgency and potency.⁴⁸⁹

In spite of taking a step back during the Lebanese civil war in the late 1970s to early 1990s,⁴⁹⁰ Al-Ādāb was revived to its old cultural role by the son Dr Samah Idriss in 1991. It has become once more the renowned cultural platform for political debate, and contains a mix of articles ranging

485 Op. cit. Bizri, 109–110.

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from short stories, to poetry, to reviews, to news on cultural events such as theater, cinema and the arts. Alongside other cultural magazines such as Šiʿr, it has played a crucial role in the development of modern Arab literature and critical cultural production. Like the literary journals before it—

Al-Makšūf founded by Fouad Hobeich, Al-Ṭarīq founded by Antoine Tabet in 1941 (Anṭwān Ṯābit, 1907–1964), and Al-Adīb founded in 1942 by Albert Adib (Albīr Adīb, 1908–1985)—Al-Ādāb continues to enriched Arab contemporary thought, by publishing on its pages the writings of thinkers and authors from all around the Arab world.⁴⁹¹ The Al-Ādāb journal stopped its printed version at the end of 2012 and now only appears in its digital format, and that is due to censorship and the unsustainable costs of printing and distribution.⁴⁹²

4.4.3. Dār Al-Ādāb (1956–present)

Dār Al-Ādāb is considered today one of the leading publishing houses specialized in contemporary Arabic literature and fiction (for adults, teenagers and children). The publishing house was from the start a natural extension of the Al-Ādāb literary journal. It was established and continues to publish work that extends the cultural rejuvenation project of Dr. Suheil Idriss. Its founder realized shortly after launching it, that his literary journal was a limited means for bringing renewal and progress into Arabic literature. He became convinced that more in-depth studies and longer political and intellectual texts needed to be disseminated if his ideas were to take root in society. This led him to the conclusion that he needed to establish a publishing house that could meet his ambitions.⁴⁹³ And so Dār Al-Ādāb was born in 1956. The Al-Ādāb journal and the publishing house complemented each other. The journal was simply the foundation of the same political and cultural project.⁴⁹⁴

Dār Al-Ādāb was originally a publisher of poetry and translated foreign literature. Two decades ago its editorial team decided to focus on publishing contemporary Arabic novels. By doing so they promoted this genre of Arabic literature and consequently set a trend in the region.

The Arabic market since for novels and fiction has been growing and many believe it has reached a certain ascendency over poetry, to the point that it seems to have become, in Hanna Mina’s words

491 Op. cit. Muruwwa, 116 –117.

493 “Nabḏa ʿan Našʾat Dār Al-Ādāb, wa Anšiṭatiha wa Tawaǧǧuhātiha” (a brief introduction about Dār Al-Ādāb’s establishment, its activities and its orientations), Beirut: Dār Al-Ādāb Catalogue, 2011.

494 Op. cit. Idriss, 2012. Appendix V.

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(Ḥanna Mīna’s, 1924–2015)⁴⁹⁵ “diwān al-ʿArab al-ḥadīṯ” (the modern corpus of Arabic literature).

Dār Al-Ādāb has become the leader in this genre; it reprints work published in Egypt in order to keep their ‘pan-Arab’ collection complete and comprehensive.⁴⁹⁶ Nowadays they publish three to four books per year for young poets, in small editions. Poetry books do not have a large market, except when they are works by older famous poets like Nizar Qabbani, Adonis, or Mahmoud Darwish whose work remains highly popular.⁴⁹⁷

Dār al-Ādab publishes criticism and political non-fiction and history by authors such Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), Edward Said (Idwārd Saʿīd, 1935–2003) and Norman Finkelstein (b. 1953). Their catalogue of 2011 displays several series of books grouped by topic or author. It starts with their latest releases: the three new editions of the dictionaries Al-Manhal, followed by twelve childen’s and young-adults books by Samah Idriss, followed by thirty six books of fiction by Arab authors, then six poetry books, then ten studies and non-fiction books, then nine books of translated literature, then thirty two reprints of ‘older important books’⁴⁹⁸ and finally two pages displaying sixteen back issues of the Al-Ādāb journal. The rest of catalogue (72 pages printed in one

color black) is a listing of the rest of their collection: divided by topics (poetry collections, Islamic studies, heritage, political studies, literary studies and criticism, theatre studies, translated

literature and fiction); some of these divisions contain listings of several works by one author, like Adonis, Edward Said, Suheil Idriss, Nawal El Saadawi (Nawāl al-Saʿdāwī, b. 1931), Samah Idriss, Hanna Mina, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (Ǧabra Ibrāhīm Ǧabra, 1920–1924) Rabee Jaber (Rabīʿ Ǧābir, b. 1972), Elias Khoury (Ilyās Ḫūrī, b. 1948) Hanan Al-Shaykh (Ḥanān al-Šayḫ, b.1945), Sahar Khalifa (Saḥar ḫalīfa, b. 1942), Leila Baalbaki (Layla Bʿalbakī, b. 1936) Ahlam Musteghanemi (Aḥlām

Mustiġānimī, b. 1953) Bahaa Taher (Bahāʾ Ṭāhir, b. 1935), Edouard Al-Kharrat (Iduwārd ḫarrāṭ, 1926–

2015 ) Saadallah Wannous (Saʿdallāh Wannūs, 1941-1997), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), Colin Wilson

495 Hanna Mina is one of the Arab world’s most prominent novelists. His novels are characterized by their social realism. Khalil Sweileh writes in an interview with Mina: “Mina was a teller of maritime tales. [Mina:]"The sea has always been the source of my inspiration, so much so, that much of my work was literally soaked by its tumultuous waves," he says. Mina introduced the sea to the Arabic novel, and took it into unchartered narrative waters. […] In the early 1980s, Mina made his famous declaration that: "In the twenty-first century, the novel will become for the Arabs what poetry is to them today." This prophecy appeared to be a cry in the wilderness at the time. Critics caught on to the idea and the term "age of the novel" began being widely used, ushering in a new emerging generation of Arab novelists. Some of them quickly overtook their elders, but Mina's novels have remained best sellers, even if his latest did not do as well as earlier ones. Mina does not seek to create archetypes, and stresses that honesty comes first.

Mina has written about 40 novels, varying in imaginary value and narrative significance. His achievement lies in the foundation he laid for this literary structure. Characters such as Zakaria al-Mirsanli in al-Yater, al-Turousi in The Road and the Storm, and Mufid al-Wahsh in The End of a Brave Man, are living examples of life experience intertwined with fiction. Mina does not seek to create archetypes, and stresses that honesty comes first. That partly explains the popularity of his literature.” Cf. Khalil Sweileh, “Hanna Mina: Syria’s Old Man of the Sea.” Al-Akhbar English. Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2012. Last Updated Mar 06, 2014 2:15pm. Web.

(http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/5584)

498 This is a direct translation from the way the category is listed in Dār Al-Ādāb’s catalogue of 2011.

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(1931–2013), Yukio Mishima (1925–1970), Iris Murdoch (1919–1999), Milan Kundera (b. 1929), Marguerite Duras (1914–1996), Albert Camus (1913–1960), Alberto Moravia (1907–1990) and more.

Their catalogue constitutes an impressive selection of progressive, daring and thought-provoking books of fiction and non-fiction alike.

In an attempt to continue the legacy of his father without being confined to taking the exact same path (literary criticism, lexicography, editorial work and running the Al-Ādāb journal), Dr Samah Idriss decided to take on the challenge of writing for a part of society that he considered

‘neglected’: namely, Arab young adults.⁴⁹⁹ He states that “young adults are often neglected by the same authors that complain that Arab youth does not read their work.”⁵⁰⁰ He believes that it is the author’s duty to nurture love for literature and reading in the Arabic language if we are to compete with the new media and sources of entertainment that this generation has access to. The writing, both in content and language, should be relevant to this generation’s reality and experiences. He began making books for children of 5-10 years of age, but recently took more interest in the ages between 11-16, the age at which “kids totally stop reading Arabic,” according to him. He believes that if they stop at this critical age they are likely never to want to read in Arabic ever after. His ideas are risky; picking daring subjects and using a contemporary Arabic language that is accurate in style and rhythm. Some of his books carry a small glossary of terms (that may be considered spoken words, but that he likes to prove their correctness by tracing their origins to the classical Arabic language, in order to demonstrate the richness and adaptability of this language). In his writings he works to present a creative and actual language that brings Arabic literature closer to the youth and their daily lives and experiences. He challenges the purist and conservative educational establishment, urging them to help build a love for the language amongst young readers and adopt a more progressive and creative approach in language instruction. His ideas are like his father’s and their publishing house, risky, courageous and progressive.

3.4.4. Dār Al-Ādāb’s legacy: engaged contemporary Arabic fiction and literary criticism Dār Al-Ādāb’s legacy lies in its cultural and literary engagement, mixing leftist thought and (French) existentialism. This mix gave the publishing house its unique position and image within the teeming and competitive Arab publishing world.⁵⁰¹ Dār Al-Ādāb’s editorial policy is not commercially driven, but rather stems from their belief that culture is a powerful tool to instigate

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progress in the Arab world—to change the souls, minds and customs of people⁵⁰²—and that publishing is integral to culture.⁵⁰³ They strive to contribute to the creation of an Arab society that is liberated, that operates according to the logic of a liberal mind, and that promotes independence and freedom of individuals to chart their own destiny.⁵⁰⁴ They strive to raise the profile of the Arabic book without making it too expensive for the market. They struggle with the inherited generations of culturally illiterate Arab societies,⁵⁰⁵ societies where few read literature or poetry, and where Arabic literature is taught but often by minimally qualified teachers that do not try to instill in their young pupils a love for the language nor for reading.

When Samah Idriss took over from his father in 1991, his aim was not only to bring renewal but also to continue his father’s ideological project. Suheil Idriss like other authors from his generation, Tawfik El Hakim (Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm, 1898–1987) and Adonis, saw themselves as role models for the younger generation of authors/intellectuals and felt responsible to publish what would benefit the generations to come. For example, Suheil Idriss translated important

international literature to open up Arab audiences to more universal themes and ideas from other cultures (Japanese, Korean, Albanian, German, French, Brazilian…), works that were in line with his own ideology; avoiding extreme sexuality, colonialist ideology and Zionism.⁵⁰⁶ At the time when his father established this publishing house, Dār Al-Ādāb was riding with the political winds of Arab Nationalism, but continuing this project today seems outdated—even seems like

swimming against the tide—and so a more contemporary cultural engragement has been adopted.⁵⁰⁷

Dār Al-Ādāb has succeeded in maintaining its independence in its editorial choices without aligning itself with specific political parties that have stifled and even caused the extinction of other publishing houses that were often used as propaganda tools for such parties.⁵⁰⁸ For this same reason they avoid subsidies from countries, institutions and international NGOs. They fear that they would have to compromise content in order to fit within the funder’s political or cultural agenda. But this stance comes at a price; this type of funding has corrupted the Arab publishing market making it too expensive for small independents to compete in publishing translated

502 Fayṣal Darrāǧ, “Suhayl Idrīs Dāḫil ǧīlihi wa ḫāriǧihi” (Suhayl Idrīs inside and outside his generation), Beirut: Al-Ādāb, 3-4. 2008.

503 Rana Idriss, Interview: Beirut, 14 September, 2012. Appendix V.

504 Op. cit. Darrāǧ, “Suhayl Idrīs”.

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works.⁵⁰⁹ In spite of all financial and cultural obstacles—the most important of which is

censorship—and the decline of their editions (from 5000 copies for a title in 1953, to 1000 today) due to the shrinking Arab market caused by war and civil unrest (in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya), they remain committed to encouraging new writers. They take risks by publishing works of lesser-known authors, in smaller editions, which makes the books slightly more

expensive.⁵¹⁰

Samah Idriss reiterates what most publishers in the Arab world lament, and he also says:

“The Arab market for publishing is in very bad shape. The biggest hit to Arab culture was what happened to Iraq. In terms of creation, translation, and reading, Iraq was a leader. Iraq is the big disaster.”⁵¹¹ Their reputation nonetheless has grown; they still represent a pan-Arab orientation focusing on engaged literature. They continue to publish work that is contemporary in content and form, that speaks freely of Arab socio-political realities and needs, and that is written in an modern Arabic language that marries the spoken and classical forms, in a package that expresses the appropriate and latest design trends. They are best known as publishers of contemporary Arab fiction, and in the past twenty years they have experienced a renewed interest in Palestinian, Lebanese and Egyptian poetry,⁵¹² which prompted them to expand this section of their collection.

Dār al-Ādāb, like its founder, remains one of the few courageous independent publishers in the Arab world, and their secular list of books reflects their policy for cultural innovation and rejuvenation. They remain committed to the Arabic language, to literature, to activism, and to their family’s name and legacy.

3.4.5. Dār Al-Ādāb’s aesthetic contribution to contemporary Arabic book design 3.4.5.1. Remarks on their book designs and production process

This publishing house, founded and managed by some of the daring and vocal Arab

intellectuals, has not only published like-minded authors and poets, but also employed outspoken and talented designers throughout. Some designers and artists have worked on a long term basis with the publishing house and others were invited on recommendations by particular authors. This variety gave each book its appropriate look and feel, reflecting the fact that every book has its own unique ‘voice’. The overall look of their books reflected the (local and international) book design trends common to each respective period since the 1950s.

510 Op. cit. Rana Idriss, 2012. Appendix V.

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The focus on literary publications (mostly novels and short stories) dictated a certain unifying format of all the books. Their 13.5 x 19.5 cm format, which other publishers started calling the ‘Dār Al-Ādāb format’⁵¹³, has set the standard for Arabic pocket-book sizes. Often Arabic books are printed in a larger format of 17 x 24 cm to best accommodate the large type size used for typesetting classical Nasḫ fonts—what has been up until recently considered the ‘legible’ bodytext size of 14/19pt. This rather large size also compensates for the compactness of the Arabic language, which can make books look too thin. With a larger type size, more pages will be filled, thus giving the book a more substantial thickness and a more serious look. Following feedback from readers at book fairs, Dār Al-Ādāb has now started using the Balki off-white paper, but this paper is thicker than ordinary paper and makes the small-pocket size books too thick, so recently they devised a new ‘third size’ of 14.5 x 21.5 specially conceived for this type of paper.⁵¹⁴

The publishing house, and by extension their book designs, came to represent a certain

‘modern Arabic literature’ look that kept throughout its more than five decades of publishing this progressive and culturally engaged image that responded to cultural developments in ‘the real world’ around them. In addition, the focus on narrative-type long text made it imperative (and within the international tradition of this type of publication) to work with standard and tested conventions of typesetting the body-matter (inside pages) of books, while focusing all the creative energy on the book covers to express in an attractive manner the content, thus enticing potential customers into buying the books. According to Samah Idriss, “the book cover that people like is the one that insinuates but does not directly reveal the content.”⁵¹⁵ In an article on the designin of book covers, Reem Al-Jundi (Rīm al-Ǧundī, b. 1965),⁵¹⁶ one of the main book designers of Dār Al-Ādāb, defines her role as book designer as ‘a partner of the text’ for which she designs and which will inspire her cover image and design. She summarizes her strategy for designing book covers as follows: 1) focusing on one core idea of the text, 2) taking into consideration and adapting the image to potential to censorship laws in certain Arab states (such as nudity) so as not to

515 Op. cit. Samah Idriss, 2012. Appendix V. This reconfirms the adage: ‘a book is read by its cover’, Orhan Pamuk in his book Other Colours states: “ We cannot recall the books we most love without also recalling their covers.” Cf. Orhan Pamuk, Other Colours (London: Vintage International, 2008).

516 Reem Al-Jundi (B. 1965) is a Lebanese-Syrian artist who exhibits regularly in local art galleries while working as a book designer.

She received a degree in Fine Arts from the American University in Beirut in 1991, and masters degree in religious art from the University of the Holy Spirit in Kaslik (Lebanon) in 1992. She adopted the profession of book designer because for her it combined two of her main passions: reading and art. Cf. Reem al-Jundi. “Taṣmeem Aġlifat al-Kutub” (Designing Book Covers). Al-ʿArabī al-Ǧadīd. Online. Posted: Tuesday, January 27, 2015. 12:48 (GMT). https://www.alaraby.co.uk/supplements/2015/1/27/. Maha Sulṭān,

"Rīm al-Ǧundī Tarsumu Ayqūnat al-Maʾsāt al-Sūriyya" (Reem al-Jundi Draws the Icons of the Syrian Tragedy". Al-Ḥayāt. Online.

Posted: Thursday, June 11, 2015. 01:00 (GMT) http://www.alhayat.com/Articles/9482955/. Ḥusayn Bin Ḥamza. "Rīm al-Ǧundi Ǧamāl al-Ḍaḥiyya" (Reem al-Juni Beauty of the Victim). Al-Aḫbār. Adab wa Funūn. Issue 2613. Online. Posted: Friday, 12 June 2015 http://

www.al-akhbar.com/node/235372