Hanna Mina ( ar, حنا مينة; 9 March 1924 – 21 August 2018) was a
Syrian
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
, described in ''
Literature from the "Axis of Evil"'' as the country's "most prominent".
Words Without Borders
''Words Without Borders'' (''WWB'') is an international magazine open to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world's best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers. The ...
, '' Literature from the "Axis of Evil"'', , 2006, pp.55-6: brief biography
His early novels belong to the movement of
social realism
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
, and focus on
class conflict; his later works contain "a more symbolic analysis of class differences".
[ His writing on the suffering of ordinary people was partly inspired by his own experiences, alternately working as a ]stevedore
A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes.
After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number ...
, barber
A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...
and journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
; his autobiographical short story, "On the Sacks", was published in 1976.[
Several of his works are set during the period of the French Mandate of Syria, or in the period immediately following ]independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
.[
Mina has authored about 40 novels, varying in imaginary value and narrative significance. But his achievement lies in the foundation he laid for this literary structure. For his collective works and novels, Mina was awarded the Arab Writer's Prize in 2005.][
]
Early life
Born to a Christian Arab family in Latakia in 1924,Hatay State
Hatay State ( tr, Hatay Devleti; french: État du Hatay; ar , دولة هاتاي ''Dawlat Hatāy''), also known informally as the Republic of Hatay ( ar , جمهورية هاتاي ''Jumhūriyya Hatāy''), was a transitional political entity t ...
), he moved back to Latakia with his family.[
]
Writing
In 1947, he moved to Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
in search for a job, later moving to Damascus where he began his literary career.
In the 1950s, Mina joined the Damascus newspaper ''al-Inshaa'' as a trainee editor. He was paid a monthly salary of a mere 100 Syrian pounds and lived in relative poverty.[
He wrote several short stories, which brought him into literary circles, and he co-founded the Syrian Writers Federation in 1951 and later moved to become the editor in-chief of ''al-Inshaa''.][ His first novel was 1954's '' The Blue Lanterns''.][ Although slowly gaining fame and prestige and becoming of Syria's renowned writers, he never stopped reflecting on the harsh reality of his earlier life, which he considered as fuel for his novels.][ He has said that "reality carves its inscriptions on human skin with a hot iron that leaves permanent marks and scars".
His novel, ''The Swamp'', which invoked fragments of Mina's childhood in Iskenderun, was described by literary critic Salah Fadl as “the greatest autobiography in Arab novel-writing, and the most abundant in brutal honesty and wealth of thought."][ Mina's 1989 novel '' The End of a Brave Man'' (''Nihayat Rajul Shujaa'') was adapted into a 1994 television miniseries of the same name.
]
Death
Mina died on 21 August 2018 in Damascus, aged 94.
Legacy
In Syria, the Culture Ministry annually awards the Hanna Mina Prize for Literature.
See also
* Sail and storm
* White Ebony
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mina, Hanna
1924 births
2018 deaths
People from Latakia
Syrian novelists
Syrian journalists