Georges Schehadé (; 2 November 1905 – 17 January 1989) was a Lebanese

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

writing in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Life and career

Georges Schehadé was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, into an aristocratic Lebanese

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

family that originated in the Hauran region of Syria."Les Chehada quittent le berceau de la famille, la bourgade d'Izra, dans la plaine du Hauran syrien, vers 1650. Ils se dispersent dans l'ensemble du Levant. La branche beyrouthine est attestée dès la fin du xvii^e siècle." https://books.google.com/books?id=rAZdAAAAMAAJ&hl=en He spent most of his life 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 ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. His sister was the novelist, Laurice Schehadé. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the American University of Beirut and became a general secretary at the ''Ecole Supérieure de Lettres'' in 1945. In 1930,

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet, writer and diplomat, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the ev ...

published Schehadé's first poems in the literary magazine ''Commerce''. During his first travel to Europe in 1933 he met

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic c ...

and

Jules Supervielle Jules Supervielle (16 January 1884 – 17 May 1960) was a Franco-Uruguayan poet and writer born in Montevideo. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. He opposed the surrealism movement in poetry and rejected automatic wr ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he frequently stayed in Paris where he sympathized with the

Surrealists Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and id ...

, especially with

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

and

Benjamin Péret Benjamin Péret (4 July 1899 – 18 September 1959) was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist, and founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism. Biography Benjamin Péret was born in Rezé ...

. Between 1938 and 1951, Georges Schehadé wrote four small books of

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

that Gallimard published in 1952 under the title ''Les Poésies''. The year before

Georges Vitaly Georges Vitaly, real name Vitali Garcouchenko, (15 January 1917 – 2 January 2007), was a 20th-century French actor, theater director and theater manager. The son of immigrants from the Russian Revolution, he trained as actor from 1934. In 1947 ...

produced Schehadé's first play, ''Monsieur Bob'le'', at the

Théâtre de la Huchette The Théâtre de la Huchette () is a theatre in Paris. This small theatre in Paris' Left Bank, located at 23 rue de la Huchette in the 5th arrondissement, is known for playing Eugène Ionesco's absurdist double-bill of ''The Lesson'' and ''The ...

, and it got very controversial reviews. Most critics didn't like it at all but several poets and actors – amongst them André Breton,

René Char René Émile Char (; 14 June 1907 – 19 February 1988) was a French poet and member of the French Resistance. Biography Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department of France, the youngest of the four children of Emile ...

Georges Limbour Georges Limbour (Courbevoie, 11 August 1900 — Chiclana de la Frontera, near Cadiz, 17 May 1970)Colin-Pichon, M., Georges Limbour: le songe autobiographique, Lachenal & Ritter, Paris, 1994, pp. 209–219 was a French writer, poet and art critic, ...

, Benjamin Péret,

Henri Pichette Henri Pichette (1924–2000) was a French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and pra ...

and

Gérard Philipe Gérard Philipe () (born Gérard Albert Philip, 4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959. He came to prominence during the later period of the poetic realism movement o ...

– were very fond of it and wrote a couple of articles in ''Le Figaro Littéraire''. In 1954,

Jean-Louis Barrault Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage. Biography Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundi ...

produced his second play, ''La Soirée des proverbes'', that hadn't any success either. Only in 1956, with his third play, ''Histoire de Vasco'' (world premièred at

Schauspielhaus Zürich The Schauspielhaus Zürich () is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the history of German-speaking theater. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" (Peacock Stage). The large theatre has 750 seats. The also operates three stages ...

), Schehadé wrote a work that was staged all over the world and translated into more than 25 languages. In 1974, the British composer

Gordon Crosse Gordon Crosse (1 December 1937 – 21 November 2021) was an English composer. Biography Crosse was born in Bury, Lancashire on 1 December 1937, and in 1961 graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford with a first class honours degree in music, where h ...

(translation and libretto by

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

) made an opera out of this play: ''The Story of Vasco'', premièred by

Sadler's Wells Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

at the

Coliseum Theatre The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. From 1960 to 1965, Schehadé wrote three other plays, ''Les Violettes'' (1960), ''Le Voyage'' (1961) and ''L'Emigré de Brisbane'' (1965) that entered the repertoire of the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

in 1967. It was his last play. In 1985, after a long period of silence, Georges Schehadé published his last book of poetry, ''Le Nageur d'un seul amour'', a collection of poems he had written between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. He died on 17 January 1989 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and was buried in the

Cimetière du Montparnasse Montparnasse Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,000 graves, and approximately 1 ...

. His wife Brigitte died in 1998. Georges Schehadé was mentioned to have influenced

Nassim Nicholas Taleb Nassim Nicholas Taleb (; alternatively ''Nessim ''or'' Nissim''; born 12 September 1960) is a Lebanese-American essayist, mathematical statistician, former option trader, risk analyst, and aphorist. His work concerns problems of randomness, ...

in Taleb's youth, mentioned the postface of

The Bed of Procrustes ''The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms'' is a philosophy book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb written in the aphoristic style. It was first released on November 30, 2010 by Random House. An updated edition was released on Octo ...

Works

Poetry

*''Étincelles'', Edition de la Pensée latine, Paris 1928 *''Poésies I'', GLM, Paris 1938 *''Poésies II'', GLM, Paris 1948 *''Poésies III'', GLM, Paris 1949 *''Poésies Zéro ou L'Écolier Sultan'' (written in 1928/29), GLM, Paris 1950 *''Si tu rencontres un ramier'' (later called ''Poésies IV''), GLM, Paris 1951 *''Les Poésies'' (Poésie I–IV), Gallimard, Paris 1952, reprinted in paperback edition Poésie/Gallimard 1969, 2001 and 2009 *''Poésies V'' (1972) *''Le Nageur d'un seul amour'' (= ''Poésies VI''), Gallimard, Paris 1985 *''Poésies VII'' (last poems), Editions Dar An-Nahar, Beyrouth 1998

Plays

*''Monsieur Bob'le'', Gallimard, Paris 1951 *''La Soirée des proverbes'', Gallimard, Paris 1954 *''Histoire de Vasco'', Gallimard, Paris 1956 *''Les Violettes'', Gallimard, Paris 1960 *''Le Voyage'', Gallimard, Paris 1961 * ''L'Émigré de Brisbane'', Gallimard, Paris 1965 *''L'Habit fait le prince'' (written in 1957), pantomime, Gallimard, Paris 1973

Other works

*''Rodogune Sinne'' ("novel", published in 1942, 1947; written in 1929) * Goha (screenplay), 1958 *''Anthologie du vers unique'', Ramsay, Paris 1977

References

External links

Georges Schehadé in IMEC (Institut Mémoires de l'Edition Contemporaine)

The Story of Vasco, latest production in UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schehade, Georges 1905 births 1989 deaths Lebanese male poets Lebanese dramatists and playwrights French-language writers from Lebanon Writers from Alexandria Writers from Beirut 20th-century Lebanese poets 20th-century dramatists and playwrights French-language poets 20th-century Lebanese male writers Lebanese people of Syrian descent American University of Beirut alumni