Ibrahim Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini ( ar, إبراهيم عبد القادر المازني, ; born August 19, 1889 or 1890; died July 12 or August 10, 1949) was an Egyptian poet, novelist, journalist, and translator.

Early life

Al-Mazini was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, to a well-off family, but grew up in relative poverty after his father died while he was young. He registered in 1906 at Cairo's Teacher's College, despite having no great interest in teaching; he had been unable to stomach the anatomical dissections at the medical school, and the tuition at the law school was too expensive. Nonetheless, the school contributed greatly to his literary development, since in the years prior to the founding of the Egyptian University, the Teacher's College was one of the few accessible avenues for students with literary ambitions, and its students included a number who would become prominent in Egyptian literature, including Abd Al-Rahman Shukri, who became an important influence and associate of al-Mazini's. Around the same time, al-Mazini also met

Abbas al-Aqqad Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad ( ar, عباس محمود العقاد, ; 28 June 1889 – 12 March 1964) was an Egyptian journalist, poet and literary critic,Muhammad al-Sibai. Al-Mazini's first literary reviews were published in publications edited by al-Aqqad, and al-Sibai introduced him to

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and to the classical poet

Ibn al-Rumi Abū al-Ḥasan Alī ibn al-Abbās ibn Jūrayj ( ar, أبو الحسن علي بن العباس بن جريج), also known as Ibn al-Rūmī (born Baghdad in 836; died 896), was the grandson of George the Greek (Jūraij or Jūrjis i.e. Georgius) ...

, both of which would become major influences on al-Mazini's poetry.

Poet and critic

Graduating from the Teacher's College in 1909, al-Mazini taught first at the Khedivial School, and then at

Dar al-Ulum Dar al-Ulum ( ar, كلية دار العلوم, kullīya dār al-ʿulūm "House of Sciences" ), is an educational institution designed to produce students with both an Islamic and modern secondary education. It was founded in 1871 and is now a f ...

, from which he resigned in 1914, after possibly having been reassigned (and assigned to teach a minor subject) due to one of his critiques offending , the Minister of Education. From 1914 to 1918 he taught at a series of private schools, sometimes the same ones as al-Aqqad. During this period, his two collections of poetry were published, one in 1913, and one in 1917. Though influential for the Egyptian revivalist poetry of the 1910s, his poetry was accused of being too heavily based on both European and classical influences, an accusation he didn't greatly dispute; and after 1917 he published very little additional poetry. Unsatisfied with teaching, al-Mazini became a full-time journalist in 1918, writing initially for the newspaper ''

Wad Wad is an old mining term for any black manganese oxide or hydroxide mineral-rich rock in the oxidized zone of various ore deposits. Typically closely associated with various iron oxides. Specific mineral varieties include pyrolusite, lithiophorit ...

'' in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, and then for a series of newspapers with varying political perspectives, generally united only in being opposed to the Wafd Party. He continued to publish literary criticism, and in 1921 co-wrote the critical work '' al-Diwan'' with al-Aqqad, which included an attack on the conservative literary establishment represented by writers such as Mustafa Lutfi el-Manfaluti and Ahmed Shawqi. Al-Mazini, al-Aqqad, and Shurki became known as the Diwan Group, which was greatly influenced by English

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

, and emphasized poetry that conveyed the poet's experience and emotion, as well as avoiding social and political commentary.

Novelist and essayist

Al-Mazini began writing prose in the mid-1920s, and completed his first novel, ''

Ibrahim al-Katib Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam. For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam. Ibrahim may also refer to: * Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people w ...

'' (''Ibrahim the Writer''), in 1925–26, though it didn't receive publication until 1931. Upon its publication, it was considered a landmark in Egyptian literature, "probably the first novel to depend primarily for its well-recognized fame on its artistic value", rather than for its social, political, or historical views, as was common in Egyptian literature of the time. He was among the contributors of ''

Al Siyasa ''Al Siyasa'' (Arabic: ''The Politics'') was an Egyptian newspaper which was the official media outlet of the now-defunct Liberal Constitutional Party. The paper was in circulation from 1922 to 1951. History and profile ''Al Siyasa'' was launch ...

'', newspaper of the Liberal Constitutional Party. Despite the novel's positive reception, al-Mazini forsook novel-writing for political and narrative essay-writing from 1931 to 1943; some of his writings from this period were published in two collections, ''Khuyut al-Ankabut'' (''Spider Webs'', 1935) and ''Fi al-tariq'' (''On the Road'', 1937). He also during that time helped found the

Egyptian Journalists Syndicate Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

in 1941, and served as its first vice-president. The break in his novel-writing career may have been related to a plagiarism controversy, as ''Ibrahim al-Katib'' contained several pages from a Russian novel al-Mazini had previously translated. In 1943, he published a sequel to ''Ibrahim al-Katib'', entitled ''Ibrahim al-thani'' (''Ibrahim the Second''), as well as three additional novels in quick succession. Late in life, he was elected to both the

Arab Academy of Damascus Arab Academy of Damascus ( ar, مجمع اللغة العربية بدمشق) is the oldest academy regulating the Arabic language, established in 1918 during the reign of Faisal I of Syria. It is based in al-Adiliyah Madrasa and is modeled on the ...

and Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mazini, Ibrahim 1890 births 1949 deaths Egyptian journalists Egyptian literary critics Egyptian novelists Egyptian male poets Egyptian translators Writers from Cairo 20th-century Egyptian poets 20th-century novelists 20th-century translators 20th-century male writers 20th-century journalists