''Hiwar'' ( ar, حوار, ) was an Arabic magazine published in

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 ...

between 1962 and 1967. The magazine was established and financed by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

during the cultural Cold War, under the cover of a front organization, the

Congress for Cultural Freedom The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti-communist advocacy group founded in 1950. At its height, the CCF was active in thirty-five countries. In 1966 it was revealed that the CIA was instrumental in the establishment and funding of the ...

History

The first issue of ''Hiwar'' appeared in October 1962 (but was dated November 1962), and its final issue was dated March/April 1967. Generous funding was provided by the CIA with the stipulation that it publish articles on the situation of Soviet Muslims. Tawfiq Sayigh, a Palestinian poet based in Beirut, accepted an offer to edit the magazine, which he did for the duration of its existence. A foreword in the inaugural issue of ''Hiwar'' laid out the magazine's putative mission, stressing its Arab identity and falsely claiming that "it is not a foreign magazine published in an Arab country, but rather an Arab magazine at its core." The foreword went on to emphasize the importance ''Hiwar'' would place on freedom of speech and cultural freedoms in the Arab world, and claimed that it would pay its contributors well. In the same issue an article by

Albert Hourani Albert Habib Hourani ( ar, ألبرت حبيب حوراني ''Albart Ḥabīb Ḥūrānī''; 31 March 1915 – 17 January 1993) was a Lebanese British historian, specialising in the history of the Middle East and Middle Eastern studies. Back ...

Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ar, طه حسين; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was one of the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a figurehead for the Nahda, Egyptian Renaissance and the modernism, modernist movem ...

was featured which was later published in the magazines ''

Cuadernos ''Cuadernos'' (Spanish: ''Notebooks'') was a Spanish-language magazine that was published in Paris, France, in the period 1953–1965. Its full title was ''Cuadernos del Congreso por la Libertad de la Cultura''. It was one of the publications of ...

'' and '' Preuves''. ''Hiwar'' was originally designed as a publication to improve modern

Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry ...

. ''Hiwar'' frequently published works by prominent Arab authors, including a serialization of

Tayeb Salih Tayeb Salih ( ar, الطيب صالح, aṭ-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ; 12 July 1929 – 18 February 2009) was a Sudanese writer, cultural journalist for the BBC Arabic programme as well as for Arabic journals, and a staff member of UNESCO. He is best k ...

's classic novella ''

Season of Migration to the North ''Season of Migration to the North'' ( ar, موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال ) is a classic postcolonial Arabic novel by the Sudanese novelist Tayeb Salih, published in 1966; it is the novel for which he is best known. It was first publi ...

'' in 1966. Although Salih's book was banned in Egypt, copies of ''Hiwar'' were likely smuggled into Cairo, where critic Raja' al-Naqqash, after reading it, described Salih as a "genius of the Arabic novel." ''Hiwar'', like other magazines funded by the Congress for Cultural Freedom, republished interviews originally appearing in ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

'', whose co-founder

Peter Matthiessen Peter Matthiessen (May 22, 1927 – April 5, 2014) was an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, zen teacher and CIA Operative. A co-founder of the literary magazine ''The Paris Review'', he was the only writer to have won the Nation ...

was a CIA operative as well as a novelist. For example, the May-June 1963 issue of ''Hiwar'' printed an interview with

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

that was previously published in the September 1961 issue of ''The Paris Review''. According to Issa J. Boullata, ''Hiwar'' raised suspicions in the Arab world about its provenance, due to the "generous payments to its contributing writers and its relatively low price despite excellent production and slick appearance." In light of these rumors, Egyptian novelist

Yusuf Idris Yusuf Idris, also Yusif Idris ( ar, يوسف إدريس) (May 19, 1927 – August 1, 1991) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels. Biography Idris was born in Faqous. He originally trained to be a doctor, studying at the U ...

declined to accept a prize that ''Hiwar'' had awarded him in November 1965, in the amount of 10,000 Lebanese lira. ''Hiwar'' drew skepticism even before it launched; Sayigh recounted that Palestinian writer

Ghassan Kanafani Ghassan Kanafani ( ar, غسان كنفاني, 8 April 1936 – 8 July 1972) was a Palestinian author and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). On 8 July 1972 ...

attacked the planned magazine because of its foreign funding. The financial support of the magazine by the CIA was uncovered by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in April 1966, prompting the magazine to stop publishing the following year. Sayigh left Lebanon as a result of this event, and moved to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. In addition to ''Hiwar'', the Congress for Cultural Freedom also targeted the Arab literary world by hosting conferences. In 1961, CCF sponsored a conference called "The Arab Writer and the Modern World" in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The attendees included Syrian poets

Adunis Ali Ahmad Said Esber (, North Levantine: ; born 1 January 1930), also known by the pen name Adonis or Adunis ( ar, أدونيس ), is a Syrian people, Syrian poet, essayist and translator. He led a modernist revolution in the second half of the ...

and Yusuf al-Khal as well as other luminaries such as

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the ...

and

Ignazio Silone Secondino Tranquilli (1 May 1900 – 22 August 1978), known by the pseudonym Ignazio Silone (, ), was an Italian political leader, novelist, and short-story writer, world-famous during World War II for his powerful anti-fascist novels. He was no ...

Prominent contributors

* Layla Balabakki *

Badr Shakir al-Sayyab Badr Shakir al Sayyab ( ar, بدر شاكر السياب) (December 24, 1926 in Jaykur, near Basra – December 24, 1964 in Kuwait) was a leading Iraqi poet, well known throughout the Arab world and one of the most influential Arab poets of all ti ...

Ghada al-Samman Ghadah Al-Samman ( ar, غادة السمّان; born 1942) is a Syrian writer, journalist and novelist born in Damascus in 1942 to a prominent and conservative Damascene family. Her father was Ahmed Al-Samman, a president of the Syrian Universi ...

Jabra Ibrahim Jabra Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (28 August 1919 – 12 December 1994) ( ar, جبرا ابراهيم جبرا) was a Iraqi-Palestinian author, artist and intellectual born in Adana in French-occupied Cilicia to a Syriac Orthodox Christian family. His famil ...

* Suhayr al-Qalamawi

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hiwar 1962 establishments in Lebanon 1967 disestablishments in Lebanon Anti-communism in Lebanon Anti-communist propaganda Arabic-language magazines Congress for Cultural Freedom CIA and Islamism CIA activities in Lebanon Cold War propaganda Defunct literary magazines Defunct magazines published in Lebanon Magazines established in 1962 Magazines disestablished in 1967 Magazines published in Beirut Propaganda newspapers and magazines Poetry literary magazines

History

Prominent contributors

See also

References

External links