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Ghadah Al-Samman (Arabic: غادة السمّان; born 1942) is a Syrian writer, journalist and novelist born in Damascus in 1942 to a prominent and conservative Damascene family.[1] Her father was Ahmed Al-Samman,[2] a president of the Syrian University. She is remotely related to poet Nizar Qabbani. She was deeply influenced by him since her mother died at a very young age.

Ghadah Al-Samman
Native name
غادة السمّان
Born1942 (age 79–80)
Damascus, Syria.
OccupationNovelist, journalist
LanguageArabic, English, French
Notable worksNo Sea in Beirut
The Departure of Old Ports
Beirut Nightmares

Career


Her father was fond of both Western literature and Arabic literature; this influenced her deeply and gave her a unique style that combines attributes of both. Nevertheless, she soon was confronted with the conservative Damascene society in which she was raised and lived her early years.

She published her first book of short stories “Your Eyes Are My Destiny” (Arabic: عيناك قدري) in 1962 which was received reasonably well. However, she was lumped at the time with other traditional feminine writers. Her later publications took her out of the tight range of feminine and love novels to much wider social, feminist and philosophical extents.

She graduated from the Syrian University in 1963 with a BA in English Literature and left to Beirut to earn her master's degree in Theatre from American University of Beirut; since then she had not returned to Damascus.

In Beirut she worked as a journalist and in 1965 she published her second collection “No Sea in Beirut” (Arabic: لا بحر في بيروت) in which the effect of her new, now wider experiences are evident. She then traveled around Europe working as a correspondent and in 1966 published her third collection “Foreigners’ Nights” (Arabic: ليل الغرباء) reflecting her experiences.

The Six-Day War had a shock effect on her as it did on many of her generation, this was evident in her famous article “I Carry My Shame to London” (Arabic: احمل عاري إلى لندن), after that she did not publish any books for six years but her journalistic articles became closer to the social reality and made her popular. The articles she wrote during that period became the source of some of her later publications. In 1969 she joined the weekly news magazine of Salim Lawzi, Al Hawadeth, as a correspondent.[3]

In 1973 she published her fourth collection, “The Departure of Old Ports” (Arabic: رحيل المرافئ القديمة), considered by some critiques one of the most important of her works. In this collection of short stories she described in a literary fashion the dilemma of the Arab intellectual of the time and the conflict between his/her thought and actions. She published her first novel, “Beirut 75” (Arabic: بيروت 75) around the end of 1974. The novel describes the complex social problems in Beirut and prophesied the upcoming turmoil a few months before the civil war broke out in Lebanon.

After the publication of two more novels, “Beirut Nightmares" (Arabic: كوابيس بيروت) in 1977, which describes life in civil-war-torn Beirut in the mid-Seventies, and “The Eve of Billion” (Arabic: ليلة المليار) in 1986, she was referred to as the most prominent modern Arab writer by some critics.


Life


In the late 1960s Ghada married Bashir Al Daouq, the owner of Dar Al Tali’a publishing house and had her only son, Hazim, which she named after one of her heroes in “Foreigners' Nights”. She later made her own publishing house and re-published most of her books, she also gathered all her articles in a series she called “The Unfinished Works” (Arabic: الأعمال غير الكاملة), up to date she has published fifteen books of it, nine of them are poetry collections. She has stored her unpublished works including many letters in a Swiss bank, which she promises to publish “when the time is right”.

It is believed that some of her letters may reveal some information about some prominent Palestinian writers and poets during the 1960s, of the people her name was linked with are: Nasser Eddin Al-Nashashibi, the journalist and Kamal Nasir, the late poet.

In 1993 she caused a scene in the literary and political arenas when she published a collection of love letters written to her by Ghassan Kanafani in the sixties when she had a love affair with him, which was no secret at the time. She was condemned for publishing them by some claiming that her intention was to smear the late writer's reputation and/or to negatively affect the Palestinian Cause.

She has also written a few criticism books and translated some of her works to several worldwide languages. Ghada has been living in Paris since the mid-1980s and regularly writes in an Arabic magazine published in London. She refuses any invitations for TV interviews since she had a bad experience when she was interviewed in Cairo and found out that the interviewer had not read any of her works.

Ghada Al-Samman's mother died when she was young, so she was raised by her father for most of her life. When she was an adult, Samman's father died and she lost her job in a short period of time. She was left alone in the world. People in her society had a traditional frame of mind and saw her as a “fallen woman” (Vinson 4–6). At that time, she had no father or husband to care for and no family to care for her. This is when Samman became a strong advocate for liberty and self-expression for all people, but especially women. Samman is considered a feminist writer (Wordpress.com p. 3). She does not shy away from subjects seen by the public as taboo. She questions typical thought about women's sexuality and the freedoms enjoyed by the upper class (Vinson 9–10). Samman has as many critics as she has fans, but she takes the comments in stride and continues to write about beliefs and view points that most writers refuse to touch through her works of fiction. A large part of Ghada Al-Samman's identity is an able, determined woman and she intends to make anyone who will listen feel the same way.


Selected works



Short Stories



Poetry



Novels



Autobiography



References


  1. "غادة السمان: أيقونة الحرية في الشعر العربي | مجلة الجرس" (in Arabic). Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  2. "الدمشقي العتيق… أحمد السمان | القدس العربي". 2019-04-24. Archived from the original on 2019-04-24. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  3. Ghada Talhami, ed. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-8108-7086-4.

Sources



На других языках

- [en] Ghada al-Samman

[fr] Ghada al-Samman

Ghada al-Samman (née en 1942 à Damas) est une auteure et nouvelliste syrienne, auteure d'une quarantaine d'ouvrages.

[ru] Самман, Гада

Гада ас-Самман (араб. غادة السمان‎, р. 1942) – сирийская писательница, журналистка, публицистка, поэтесса, издательница, одна из наиболее известных в мире сирийских прозаиков[1].


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