Unpacking Saʿdallāh Wannūs’ Private Library: On the (After)Lives of Books
In: Journal of Arabic LiteratureSearch for other papers by Sonja Mejcher-Atassi in
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Abstract
The private library of the Syrian playwright and public intellectual Saʿdallāh Wannūs (1941-1997) arrived at the American University of Beirut in 2015. This article sets out to read Wannūs through his library. After presenting a brief overview of the books in Wannūs’ library, their subject matter, and their provenance, it examines personal book inscriptions, which unravel a rich intellectual network and provide insight into Wannūs’ trajectory and recognition as a playwright and public intellectual. It then explores the conditions under which Wannūs’ library came into existence and flourished in a Syria marked by the Baʿth party and the al-Asad regime’s authoritarian control of the political and cultural fields, under which it migrated from Damascus to Beirut in the wake of the 2011 Syrian revolution-turned-war. Wannūs’ library, the article argues, opened an Arabic and world literary space, both physical and metaphorical, from which Wannūs emerged as a modern Arabic and world-renowned playwright.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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Unpacking Saʿdallāh Wannūs’ Private Library: On the (After)Lives of Books
In: Journal of Arabic LiteratureSearch for other papers by Sonja Mejcher-Atassi in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The private library of the Syrian playwright and public intellectual Saʿdallāh Wannūs (1941-1997) arrived at the American University of Beirut in 2015. This article sets out to read Wannūs through his library. After presenting a brief overview of the books in Wannūs’ library, their subject matter, and their provenance, it examines personal book inscriptions, which unravel a rich intellectual network and provide insight into Wannūs’ trajectory and recognition as a playwright and public intellectual. It then explores the conditions under which Wannūs’ library came into existence and flourished in a Syria marked by the Baʿth party and the al-Asad regime’s authoritarian control of the political and cultural fields, under which it migrated from Damascus to Beirut in the wake of the 2011 Syrian revolution-turned-war. Wannūs’ library, the article argues, opened an Arabic and world literary space, both physical and metaphorical, from which Wannūs emerged as a modern Arabic and world-renowned playwright.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 928 | 149 | 40 |
| Full Text Views | 120 | 5 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 157 | 5 | 1 |