Khalīl al-Khūrī ( ar, خليل الخوري; 28 October 1836, Choueifat — 26 October 1907) was a central figure of the

Nahda The Nahda ( ar, النهضة, translit=an-nahḍa, meaning "the Awakening"), also referred to as the Arab Awakening or Enlightenment, was a cultural movement that flourished in Arabic-speaking regions of the Ottoman Empire, notably in Egypt, Leb ...

. He was the owner of '' Hadiqat al-Akhbar'' ('The News Garden', 1858–1911), the first Arabic newspaper 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 ...

, the origins of which may be pinpointed to a group of Syrians assembled at the forgotten Médawar Literary Circle. Quoting Jens Hanssen and Hicham Safieddine, he "was the first to popularize a sense of Syrian identity." In the words of Basiliyus Bawardi, he "believed that an adoption of a new Western literary genre into the traditional Arabic literary tradition would provide the Arab culture with tools for reviving the Arabic language and create new styles of expression." ''Hadiqat al-Akhbar'' "was the first Arabic newspaper to publish translations from Western narrative fiction, especially from the French Romance stories." Khuri also published a fictional narrative of his own, ''Wayy, Idhan Lastu bi-Ifranji'' ('Alas, I Am Not a Foreigner'), in ''Hadiqat al-Akhbar'' (1859–61). The literary activity of the newspaper "played a substantial role in changing the aesthetic literary taste, and paved the way for the birth of an authentic Arabic narrative fiction."

References

Sources

* * * *

References

Sources

Further reading