Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm (1898 -1987) was the founder of contemporary
Egyptian drama and a leading figure in modern Arabic literature.
Al-Ḥakīm was born into a well-to-do family. After studying
law at Cairo University, he went to Paris to continue his legal studies but
instead devoted most of his time to the theatre. On his return to Egypt (1930),
he worked for the Ministry of Justice in a rural area and for the Ministry of
Education in Cairo. However, in 1936 he resigned to devote himself entirely to
writing.
Al-Ḥakīm won fame as a dramatist with Ahl al-kahf (1933;
“The People of the Cave”), which was ostensibly based on the story of the Seven
Sleepers of Ephesus but which was actually a study of the human struggle
against time. This introduced his series of “dramas of ideas,” or of
“symbolism.” They include Shahrazād (1934), based on The Thousand and One
Nights, as well as the plays Al-Malik Udib(1939; “King Oedipus”), Pijmalīyūn
(1942; “Pygmalion”), and Sulaymān al-Ḥakim (1934; “Solomon the Wise”). His
output of more than 50 plays also includes many on Egyptian social themes, such
as Sirr al-muntahirah (1937; “The Secret of the Suicide Girl”) and Ruṣāṣah fī
al-Qalb (1944; “A Bullet in the Heart”). His boldest drama was the lengthy Muḥammad
(1936), which was not intended for performance.
Al-Ḥakīm made drama a respected Arabic literary genre. Prior
to him, prose plays had been primarily lightweight comedy or farce, while verse
had been used by such noted poets as Aḥmad Shawqī for heroic drama. Al-Ḥakīm,
however, wrote only in prose—a flexible, high-quality prose, often interspersed
with colloquial Arabic. His autobiographical novel, Yawmīyāt nāʾib fī al-aryāf
(1937; The Maze of Justice), is a satire on Egyptian officialdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment