Rashid Al-Daif

Rashid Al-Daif (Arabic: رشيد الضعيف) (or Rasheed Al-Daif, Rachid El-Daïf, Rachid El-Daif) is a Lebanese author, writing in Arabic. He has been translated into many languages, including French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Italian, Greek, Japanese and Vietnamese.

Biography

Rashid Al-Daif was born into a Christian Maronite family [1] in Ehden, near Zgharta, Lebanon in 1945. He studied Arabic literature at the Lebanese University in Beirut, going on to do two doctorates in Paris. Since 1974 he had been teaching Arabic literature at the Lebanese University and AUB.[2]

He has been referred to as "the Arab world's answer to Italo Calvino or Umberto Eco".[3]

Margaret Drabble pays tribute to her long-standing friendship to Al-Daif and his wife in her contribution to the 2006 book Lebanon, Lebanon.[4]

Bibliography

Novels

  • 1982, Unsi yalhu ma’a rita: kitab al-baligin, (Unsi is Playing with Rita: A Book for Adults), al-Mu’assasa l-Jami’iyya li-l-dirasat wa-l-nasr, Beirut.
  • 1983, Al-Mustabidd, (The Tyrant), Dar ab’ad, Beirut. Reprint: Riad El-Rayyes Books, 2001.
  • 1986, Fusha mustahdafa bayna l-nu’as wa-l-nawm, Mukhtarat, Beirut. Reprint: Riad El-Rayyes Books 2001.
Translated into French by Luc Barbulesco and Philippe Cardinal under the title Passage au Crepuscule, Actes Sud, 1992.
Also translated into English by Nirvana Tannuki under the title Passage to Dusk, Austin: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2001. ISBN 978-0-292-70507-4
  • 1987, Ahlu z-zill, (Dwellers of the Shade), Mukhtarat, Beirut. Reprint: Riad El-Rayyes Books 2001.
Translated into French under the title L'Insolence Du Serpent...ou les creatures de l’ombre by Edgard Weber. AMAM , Toulouse, 1997.
  • 1989, Taqaniyyaatu l-bu’s, Technicalities of Wretchedness, Mukhtarat, Beirut. Reprint: Riad El-Rayyes Books 2001.
  • 1991, Ghaflat al-Turab, A Lapse of the Earth, Mukhtarat, Beirut. Reprint: Riad El-Rayyes Books 2001
  • 1995, Azizi as-sayyid Kawabata, Mukhtarat, Beirut. Reprint: Riad El-Rayyes Books 2001
Translated into the following eight European languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish, Polish, and Dutch.
German translation: Hartmut Fahndrich, Lieber Herr Kawabata. Basel, Lenos 1998.
English Translation: Paul Starkey, Dear Mr. Kawabata. London: Quartet Books, 1999; reprinted by Interlink Books, U.S.A., 2000.
  • 1997, Nahiyat al-bara’a, al-Masar, Beirut.
Translated into English under the title This Side of Innocence by Paula Haydar. Interlink Books, 2001.
  • 1998, Lernin Inglish, (Learning English), al-Nahar, Beirut. Reprint: Riad El-Rayyes, Beirut, 2005.
Translated into French under the title Learning English by Yves Gonzalez-Quijano. Paris: Actes Sud, September 2001.
  • 2001, Tistifil Meryl Streep (Meryl Streep Can Suit Herself), Riad El-Rayyes Books, Beirut.
Translated into Italian under the title E CHI SE NE FREGA DI MERYL STREEP by Palma D'Amico. Rome: Jouvence, 2003.
Also translated into French under the title Qu'elle au Diable Meryl Streep by Edgard Weber. Paris: Actes-Sud, 2004
Also translated into Greek. Athens: Kedros, 2006.
  • 2002, Insay as-Sayyara, (Forget About The Car), Riad El-Rayyes Books, Beirut.
Translated into French under the title Fais Voir Tes Jambes Leila by Yves Gonzalez-Quijano. Paris: Actes-Sud, September 2006.
  • 2005, Mabad Yanjah Fi Baghdad (Mabad Succeeds in Baghdad), Riad El-Rayyes Books, Beirut.
  • 2005, Awdatu l'almani 'ila rushdihi (The German Returns To His Senses), Riad El-Rayyes Books, Beirut.

Poetry

  • 1979, Hina halla al-sayf ‘ala l-sayf, (When the Sword Replaced the Sun)
Translated by J.D. Bencheikh as L’Eté au Tranchant de l’Épée Le Sycmore, Paris.
  • 1980, La shay’a yafuqu l-wasf, (Nothing is Above Description), Mansurat lubnan al-gadid, Beirut.
  • 1992, Ayyu thalgin yahbut bi-salam, (What Snow ever Falls in Peace), Mukhtarat, Beirut.

Film

  • A film entitled Passage Au Crepuscule based upon the novel of the same title was directed by the Swiss director Simon Edelstein and released in Geneva in 2000.
  • A film entitled Zennar An Nar based upon the novel of the title Al Mustabid directed by the Lebanese director Bahij Hojeij in 2004

Theatre

  • A play entitled Qu’elle Aille au diable Meryl Streep based upon the novel of the same title was written by the Algerian French scenarist Mohammad Qacimi, and produced by Nidal Achqar, in Arabic and French.

References

  1. ↑ "Rachid El-Daif". English Pen World Atlas. 2008-07-29. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
  2. ↑ "Rashid al-Da'if". International Literature Festival, Berlin. 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
  3. ↑ "Rashid Al-Daif: Writing to Yasurani". Al-Ahram Weekly. 2005-11-24. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  4. ↑ "Lebanon (Margaret Drabble, Sept 2006)". Saqi Books. 2006. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
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