Thurayyā 'Abd al-Fattāḥ Malḥas (1925 – February 23, 2013; ) was a
Palestinian
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
poet and academic. She is considered a pioneer of
free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...
poetry among Palestinian women writers.
Early life and education
Thurayyā Malḥas was born 1925 in
Amman
Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...
, in what was then the
Emirate of Transjordan
The Emirate of Transjordan (), officially the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921, She attended primary school in Amman, then moved to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
at age 15 and completed secondary school there. She spent time as a student at al-Ahliyya National School for Girls in
Beirut
Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
, alongside fellow future creative figures such as
Saloua Raouda Choucair
Saloua Raouda Choucair (; June 24, 1916 – January 26, 2017) was a Lebanese painter and sculptor.
Life and career
Born in 1916 in Ain El Mraisseh, along Beirut's coastal Corniche, Lebanon, Choucair came from a family of doctors, lawyers, engin ...
, with whom she became close friends.
In 1945, Malḥas graduated from the American Junior College for Women, now
Lebanese American University
The Lebanese American University (LAU; ) is a secular private American university with campuses in Beirut, Byblos, and New York. It is chartered by the board of regents of the University of the State of New York and is recognized by the Lebane ...
, with an associate's degree. She then studied
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
and education at the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1947 and a master's degree in 1951. Later in the 1950s, she traveled to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
to continue her studies at
SOAS University of London
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...
. She had returned to the American Junior College for Women, renamed as the Beirut College for Women, to teach in 1952, and eventually rose to head the Arabic department.
Then, in 1981, she earned a Ph.D. in Arabic philosophy from
Saint Joseph University
Saint Joseph University of Beirut (; French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', commonly known as USJ) is a private Catholic research university in Beirut, Lebanon, founded in 1875 by French Jesuit missionaries and subsidized by the Go ...
and became a professor at the university.
Writing
Malḥas is considered the first Palestinian woman writer to produce free verse poetry, without relying on
meter
The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
. This marked a shift in Palestinian women's literary output before the 1948 exodus, which had generally been characterized by highly traditional, flowery language. She was described by contemporary scholars as a "poetess of abstraction," and her prose poetry was characterized by lyrical and mystical elements, including "unfamiliar words and images." Sometimes described as modernist, Malḥas is also considered part of the first generation of modern women poets born in what was then Transjordan.
Beginning in the 1940s, she wrote for various local publications in Lebanon, predominantly as an
art critic
An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...
, including covering her former classmate Saloua Choucair's first public show in Beirut in 1952. In the mid-to-late 1940s, she began publishing poetry and prose in '' Al Adib'' magazine, and her signature style proved influential in the local literary scene.
Her first collection of prose poetry, ''al-Nashid al-Ta'ih'' ("The Wayward Hymn"), was published in 1949. She went on to publish a half-dozen other poetry collections between 1952 and 1968. She also published a book of poems in English, called ''Prisoners of Time''. In 2001, her work was included in ''The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology''.
Though best known as a poet, she also wrote short stories, novels, and essays. Additionally, she produced various educational books and academic works, including ''Mikhail Naimy al-Adib al-Sufi'', a study of the philosopher Mikhail Naimy, in 1964.
Personal life and death
Malḥas was married to fellow academic Musa Sulaiman. She died in Amman in 2013 at age 88.