Yahya Haqqi

Infobox Writer
name = Yahya Haqqi


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birthdate = Birth date|1905|1|7
birthplace = Cairo, Egypt
deathdate = death date and age|1992|12|9|1905|1|7
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occupation = Novelist, short story writer
nationality = Egyptian
ethnicity = Turkish
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Yahya Haqqi (Arabic:rtl- _ar. يحيى حقي )(7 January 1905-9 December 1992) was an Egyptian writer and novelist. Born to a middle-class family in Cairo, he was trained as a lawyer at the Cairo School of Law, graduating in 1925. Like many other Egyptian writers, such as Naguib Mahfouz and Yusuf Idris, he spent most of his life as a civil servant, supplementing his literary income; he eventually rose to become adviser to the National Library of Egypt.

In his literary career, he published four collections of short stories, one novel ("Umm Hashem's Lamp"), and many articles and other short stories besides. He was editor of the literary magazine "Al-Majalla" from 1961 to 1971, when that publication was banned in Egypt.

Early life and family

Yahya Haqqi was born in the Cairo neighborhood of Zainab to a middle-class Turkish Muslim family. His ancestors had emigrated from Turkey to Greece, and one of the sons of that family, Ibrahim Haqqi (d. 1890), Yahya's grandfather, moved to Egypt in the early nineteenth century. Ibrahim Haqqi worked in Damietta for a period of time, and had three sons: Muhammad Ibrahim (Yahya's father), Mahmoud Taher, and Kamal. Muhammad Ibrahim's wife, Yahya's mother, was also of Turkish origin. Both of his parents enjoyed literature. Yahya Haqqi was the third son of six, and had two sisters. His oldest brother was Ibrahim, followed by Ishmael. His younger siblings, in birth order, were Zachariah, Musa, Fatima, Hamza, and Miriam. Hamza and Miriam both died when they were only months old.

Literary career

In his literary career, he published four collections of short stories, one novel, ("Good Morning", translated from Arabic by Miriam Cooke), a novella ("Umm Hashem's Lamp", twice translated from Arabic, by M.M.Badawi and Denys Johnson-Davies), and many articles some of which involved literary criticism of writers works, and other short stories besides. Sabri Hafez regards Haqqi as a pioneer in the writing of short stories, and experimenter in both form and style [Sabry Hafez, ‘The Modern Arabic Short Story’ in Modern Arabic Literature, ed. M. M. Badawi, (Cambridge, 1992), p. 304] . Most literary critics commend Haqqi's style of writing and his language precision. He was editor of the literary magazine "Al-Majalla" from 1961 to 1971, when that publication was banned in Egypt. During that period and even before Haqqi championed budding Egyptian authors whose works he admired and believed in. In the 1960s also Haqqi took the very couragous step of retiring from writing short stories and novels, but he continued to write articles that critics described as artistic sketches.

References

*cite book
author= Hafez, Sabry
coauthors=Catherine Cobham, eds.
title = A Reader of Modern Arabic Short Stories
year = 1988
publisher = Saqi Books
location = London
language = Arabic, English
isbn = 0863560873
pages = 147-148
*cite book
author = Brugman, J.
title = An Introduction to the History of Modern Arabic
year = 1984
publisher = Brill Publishers
isbn = 9004071725
pages = 263-268
* cite book
author = Hafez, Sabry
title = 'The Modern Arabic Short Story' in "Modern Arabic Literature", ed. M.M.Badawi
year = 1922
publisher = Cambridge University Press
pages = 320-305

External links

*Translation/Ref|ar|يحيى حقي|http://ar.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%D9%8A%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%89_%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%8A&oldid=1510914