Faisal Darraj (born 1942) is 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 ...

literary and cultural critic.Author profile on Banipal
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Life

He was born in

Al-Ja'una Al-Ja'una or Ja'ouna (Arabic: الجاعونة), was a Palestinian village situated in Galilee near al-Houleh Plateau, overlooking the Jordan Valley. The village lay on a hillside 450–500 meters above sea level, 5 kilometers east of Safad near ...

, a village in the

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

in Palestine, but moved to

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

with his family as part of the Palestinian exodus after the village was destroyed in 1948. He went to university in Syria, obtaining a BA in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. In the early 1970s, he moved to France to pursue his doctorate in philosophy at

Toulouse University The University of Toulouse (french: Université de Toulouse) was a university in the French city of Toulouse that was established by papal bull in 1229, making it one of the earliest universities to emerge in Europe. Suppressed during the Frenc ...

. His dissertation was entitled "Alienation and Religious Alienation in Karl Marx’s Philosophy." Between 1975 and 1979, Darraj lived 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 ...

, working at the Palestinian Research Center. In 1982, following the Israeli invasion of Beirut, he left Beirut and moved back to Damascus and then to Amman where he still currently resides.

Literary career

Darraj is recognized as a leading literary and cultural critic in the Arab world, and has a number of important works to his name. These include ''Bo's Al-Thaqafa fi al-Mu'asasah al-Falestiniyeh'' (''The Misery of Culture in Palestinian Establishment'') and ''Nathariyat al-Riwaya wa'l-Riwaya al-Arabiyya'' (The Theory of the Novel and the Arabic Novel). The latter has won multiple awards. Darraj has collaborated on major literary projects with

Ihsan Abbas Ihsan Abbas (December 2, 1920 – January 29, 2003) was a Palestinian professor at the American University of Beirut, and was considered a premier figure of Arabic and Islamic studies in the East and West during the 20th century. The "author of ...

Saadallah Wannous Saadallah Wannous ( ar, سعد الله ونوس) (1941 – 15 May 1997) was a Syrian playwright, writer and editor on Arabic theater. He was born in the village of Hussein al-Bahr, near Tartous, where he received his early education. He studied ...

Abdelrahman Munif Abdelrahman bin Ibrahim al-Munif ( ar, عَبْدُ الرَّحْمٰن المُنِيفٌ) known by his nickname Abdelrahman Munif (May 29, 1933 – January 24, 2004) was a Saudi Arabian novelist, short story writer, memoirist, journalist ...

, and Jamal Barut. He has supervised Arabic translations of

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence i ...

and

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthro ...

. He also writes regularly for newspapers such as ''

al-Hayat Al-Hayat ( ar, الحياة meaning "Life") was a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred v ...

'' and ''

al-Safir ''As-Safir'' ( ar, السفير, lit=The Ambassador), was a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily was in Beirut. It was in circulation from March 1974 until December 2016. The last issue of the paper wa ...

'' and literary journals like '' Al Jadid'' and ''

Banipal ''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three tim ...

''. Darraj served on the prize committee for the 1998-99 edition of the prestigious Al Owais Prize. In 2010–11, he himself became a recipient of the Al Owais Prize for his contributions to Arabic criticism and literary studies.

Selected works

* ''Marxism and Religion'' (1977) * ''Reality and Utopia: A Contribution in Literary Politics'' (1989) * ''The Misery of Culture in the Palestinian Institution'' (1996) * ''The Future of Arabic Criticism'' (1998) * ''The Theory of the Novel and the Arabic Novel'' (1999) * ''Memory of the Defeated: Defeat and Zionism in the Palestinian Literary Discourse'' (2002) * ''The Novel and the Hermeneutics of History'' (2004) * ''Retreating Modernity: Taha Hussein and Adonis'' (2005)

References

Palestinian literary critics Palestinian scholars Palestinian writers 1942 births Living people University of Toulouse alumni {{Palestine-writer-stub