May Elias Ziadeh ( ; ar, مي إلياس زيادة, ; 11 February 1886
– 17 October 1941) was a
Lebanese-
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
poet, essayist, and translator, who wrote many different works both in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and in
French.
After attending school in her native city
Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
and in Lebanon, May Elias Ziadeh immigrated along with her family to Egypt in 1908, and started publishing her works in French (under the pen name Isis Copia) in 1911.
Gibran Kahlil Gibran
Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...
entered into a correspondence with her in 1912. Being a prolific writer, she wrote for Arabic-language newspapers and periodicals, along with publishing
poem
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...
s and books. May Elias Ziadeh held one of the
most famous literary salons in the modern Arab world in the year 1921. After suffering some personal losses at the beginning of the 1930s, she came back to Lebanon where her relatives placed her in a psychiatric hospital. However, she was able to get out of it, and then left for
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 ...
, where she later died.
May Elias Ziadeh was one of the key figures 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 ...
in the early 20th-century Arab literary scene and a "pioneer of Oriental feminism."
[Boustani, 2003, p. 203.][
]
Biography
Early and personal life
May Ziadeh was the daughter of Elias Zakhur Ziadeh, a Lebanese Maronite
The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...
from the Chahtoul family and Nuzha Khalil Mu'mar, a Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
, in Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
, Ottoman Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. Her father had been a teacher and the editor of ''Al Mahrūsah''.
May Elias Ziadeh attended primary school in Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
. As her father came to the Keserwan region of Mount Lebanon, she was sent at the age of 14 to Aintoura
Aintoura ( ar, عينطورة) is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is located 18 kilometers north of Beirut. The average elevation of Aintoura is 230 meters above sea level and its tot ...
to pursue her secondary studies at a French convent school for girls.[ Her studies in Aintoura exposed her to French and ]Romantic literature
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, to which she took a particular liking. She attended several Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
schools in Lebanon before returning to Nazareth in the year 1904 to be with her parents.[ She is reported to have published her first articles at the age of 16. In 1908, she and her family immigrated to Egypt.]
Ziadeh never married, but from 1912 onward, she maintained an extensive written correspondence with one of the literary giants of the twentieth century, the Lebanese-American poet and writer Khalil Gibran
Gibran Khalil Gibran ( ar, جُبْرَان خَلِيل جُبْرَان, , , or , ; January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran (pronounced ), was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist ...
. Although the pair never met, the correspondence lasted 19 years until his death in 1931.
Between 1928 and 1932, Ziadeh suffered a series of personal losses, beginning with the death of her parents, a number of her friends, and above all Khalil Gibran. She fell into a deep depression and returned to Lebanon where her relatives placed her in a psychiatric hospital to gain control over her estate.[ ]Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi ( ar, نوال السعداوي, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of ...
alleges that Ziadeh was sent to the hospital for expressing feminist sentiments.[Peterson and Lewis, 2001, p. 220.] Ziadeh was profoundly humiliated and incensed by this decision; she eventually recovered and left after a medical report proved that she was of sound mental health. She returned to 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 ...
where she died on October 17, 1941.[Khaldi, 2008 p. 103]
Journalism and language studies
Ziadeh's father founded ''Al Mahroussah'' newspaper while the family was in Egypt. She contributed to a number of articles.[ She also published articles in '' Al Hilal'', '']Al Ahram
''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...
'' and '' Al Muqtataf''.
Ziadeh was particularly interested in learning languages. She studied privately at home alongside her French-Catholic education, and later at a local university for a Modern Languages degree while in Egypt. She graduated in 1917. As a result, Ziadeh was completely bilingual in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and French, and had working knowledge of English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
, Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
, Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
as well as Modern Greek
Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
.
Key Arab literary figure
Ziadeh was well known in Arab literary circles, receiving many male and female writers and intellectuals at a literary salon she established in 1912 (and which Egyptian poet Gamila El Alaily attempted to emulate after Ziadeh's death). Among those that frequented the salon were 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 ...
, Khalil Moutrane, Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed or Aḥmad Luṭfī Sayyid Pasha () (15 January 1872 – 5 March 1963) was a prominent Egyptian nationalist, intellectual, anti-colonial activist and the first director of Cairo University. He was an influential person in the ...
, Antoun Gemayel, Walieddine Yakan, Abbas el-Akkad
Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad ( ar, عباس محمود العقاد, ; 28 June 1889 – 12 March 1964) was an Egyptian journalist, poet and literary critic,[Yaqub Sarruf
Yaqub Sarruf (, 1852–1927) was a pioneering Lebanese writer, publisher, and translator. Sarruf was born in Al-Hadath, Lebanon. His father sent him to the American School in Abey, then to the Syrian Protestant College where he obtained a bache ...]
.[
Ziadeh is credited with introducing the work of Khalil Gibran to the Egyptian public.][Gibran, 2006, p. 22.]
Philosophical views
Feminism and Orientalism
Unlike her peers Princess Nazli Fazil
Princess Zainab Nazli Hanim (1853 – 28 December 1913) was an Egyptian princess from the dynasty of Muhammad Ali Pasha and one of the first women to revive the tradition of the literary salon in the Arab world, at her palace in Cairo from th ...
and Huda Sha'arawi
Huda Sha'arawi or Hoda Sha'rawi ( ar, هدى شعراوي, ; 23 June 1879 – 12 December 1947) was a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader, suffragette, nationalist, and founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union.
Early life and marriage
Huda Sh ...
, May Ziyadah was more a 'woman of letters' than a social reformer. However, she was also involved in the women's emancipation movement. Ziadeh was deeply concerned with the emancipation of the Arab woman; a task to be effected first by tackling ignorance, and then anachronistic traditions. She considered women to be the basic elements of every human society and wrote that a woman enslaved could not breastfeed her children with her own milk when that milk smelled strongly of servitude.[
She specified that female evolution towards equality need not be enacted at the expense of femininity, but rather that it was a parallel process.][ In 1921, she convened a conference under the heading, "Le but de la vie" ("The goal of life"), where she called upon Arab women to aspire toward freedom, and to be open to the ]Occident
The Occident is a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Western world. It is the antonym of ''Orient'', the Eastern world. In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The term ''occidental'' is often used to ...
without forgetting their Oriental
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...
identity.[ Despite her death in 1941 her writings still represent the ideals of the first wave of Lebanese feminism. Ziadeh believed in liberating women and the first wave focused on doing just that through education, receiving voting rights, and finally having representation in government.
]
Romanticism
Bearing a romantic streak from childhood, Ziadeh was successively influenced by Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
, Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
, Shelley, and finally Gibran. These influences are evident in the majority of her works. She often reflected on her nostalgia for Lebanon and her fertile, vibrant, sensitive imagination is as evident as her mystery, melancholy and despair.[
]
Works
Ziadeh's first published work, ''Fleurs de rêve'' (1911), was a volume of poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
, written in French, using the pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
of Isis Copia. She wrote quite extensively in French, and occasionally English or Italian, but as she matured she increasingly found her literary voice in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
. She published works of criticism and biography, volumes of free-verse poetry and essays, and novels. She translated several European authors into Arabic, including Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
from English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, Brada (the Italian Contessa Henriette Consuelo di Puliga) from French, and Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...
from German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
. She hosted the most famous literary salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
of the Arab world during the twenties and thirties in Cairo.
Well noted titles of her works in Arabic (with English translation in brackets) include:
- ''Bâhithat el-Bâdiya'' باحثة البادية ("Seeker in the Desert", pen name of Malak Hifni Nasif
Malak Hifni Nasif (25 December 1886 – 17 October 1918) was an Egyptian feminist who contributed greatly to the intellectual and political discourse on the advancement of Egyptian women in the early 20th century .
Personal life
Malak was born ...
)
- ''Sawâneh fatât'' سوانح فتاة (Platters of Crumbs)
- ''Zulumât wa Ichâ'ât'' ظلمات وإشاعات (Humiliation and Rumors...)
- ''Kalimât wa Ichârât'' كلمات وإشارات (Words and Signs)
- ''Al Saha'ef'' الصحائف (The Newspapers)
- ''Ghayat Al-Hayât'' غاية الحياة (The Meaning of Life)
- ''Al-Musâwât'' المساواة (Equality)
- ''Bayna l-Jazri wa l-Madd'' بين الجزر والمد (Between the Ebb and Flow)
Feminist Works
Ziadeh is considered by many as integral to the feminist movement having published many autobiographies of women between 1919-1925, this was part of her advocacy for the empowerment of women, examples of women featured in her work include Egyptian feminist Malak Hifni Nassef in her book ''Bahithat-ul-Badia''. She was credited as being the first women to use the term "women's cause" in the Arab world according to critic Hossam Aql, "She was the first professional writer to take a critical approach to women's stories or novels written by Arab women." . Her fiction often included strong female characters and discussed the condition of Arab women, for example in one of her short stories, she illustrates the evil of frequent divorce and remarriage which she blames on men and patriarcal society.
Awards
In 1999, May Ziadeh was named by the Lebanese Minister of Culture as the personage of the year around which the annual celebration of "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 ...
, cultural capital of the Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
" would be held.[
]
Legacy
A Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
on 11 February 2012 commemorated Ziadeh's 126th birth anniversary.
See also
*Women's literary salons and societies in the Arab world
The tradition of women's literary circles in the Arab world dates back to the pre-Islamic period when the eminent literary figure, Al-Khansa, would stand in the 'Ukaz market in Mecca, reciting her poetry and airing her views on the scholarship of ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
Further reading
*''Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature''
*Marilyn Booth
Marilyn Louise Booth (born 24 February 1955) is an author, scholar and translator of Arabic literature. Since 2015, she has been the Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at the University of Oxford and ...
, 'Biography and Feminist Rhetoric in Early Twentieth Century Egypt: Mayy Ziyada's Studies of Three Women's Lives', ''Journal of Women's History'' 3:1 (1991), pp. 38–64
*
*Tahir Khemiri & G. Kampffmeyer, ''Leaders in Contemporary Arabic Literature: A Book of Reference'' (1930), pp. 24–27
*Joseph T. Zeidan, ''Arabic Women Novelists: The Formative Years and Beyond''. 1995.
*Antje Ziegler, 'Al-Haraka Baraka! The Late Rediscovery of Mayy Ziyāda's Works', ''Die Welt des Islams'' 39:1 (1999), pp. 103–115
External links
*
French, English and Arabic profile of May Ziade
- documentary on Al Jazeera English (Video, 47 mins)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziade, May
1886 births
1941 deaths
Lebanese feminists
Lebanese Maronites
Lebanese novelists
Lebanese women writers
Salon-holders from the Ottoman Empire
People from Nazareth
Translators from English
Translators from French
German–Arabic translators
Translators to Arabic
Lebanese salon-holders
Arabic-language women poets
Arabic-language poets
Arabic-language writers from the Ottoman Empire
20th-century Lebanese poets
20th-century novelists
20th-century women writers
20th-century translators
Lebanese people of Palestinian descent
Palestinian Christians
Palestinian women writers
Palestinian literature