Ibrahim Al-Mazini
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Ibrahim Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini (, ; August 19, 1889 or 1890 – July 12 or August 10, 1949) was an Egyptian poet, novelist, journalist, and translator.


Early life

Al-Mazini was born in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
, to a well-off family, but grew up in relative poverty after his father died while he was young. He registered in 1906 at Cairo's Teacher's College, despite having no great interest in teaching; he had been unable to stomach the anatomical dissections at the medical school, and the tuition at the law school was too expensive. Nonetheless, the school contributed greatly to his literary development, since in the years prior to the founding of the Egyptian University, the Teacher's College was one of the few accessible avenues for students with literary ambitions, and its students included a number who would become prominent in Egyptian literature, including Abd Al-Rahman Shukri, who became an important influence and associate of al-Mazini's. Around the same time, al-Mazini also met Abbas al-Aqqad and Muhammad al-Sibai. Al-Mazini's first literary reviews were published in publications edited by al-Aqqad, and al-Sibai introduced him to
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...
and to the classical poet
Ibn al-Rumi Abū al-Ḥasan Alī ibn al-Abbās ibn Jūrayj (), also known as Ibn al-Rūmī (born Baghdad in 836; died 896), was the grandson of George the Greek (Jūraij or Jūrjis i.e. Georgius) and a popular Arab poet of Baghdād in the Abbāsid-era. By ...
, both of which would become major influences on al-Mazini's poetry.


Poet and critic

Graduating from the Teacher's College in 1909, al-Mazini taught first at the Khedivial School, and then at
Dar al-Ulum Dar al-Uloom () is an educational institution designed to produce students with both an Islamic and modern secondary education. It was founded in 1871 and since 1946 it has been incorporated as a faculty of Cairo University, being now commonly ca ...
, from which he resigned in 1914, after possibly having been reassigned (and assigned to teach a minor subject) due to one of his critiques offending , the Minister of Education. From 1914 to 1918 he taught at a series of private schools, sometimes the same ones as al-Aqqad. During this period, his two collections of poetry were published, one in 1913, and one in 1917. Though influential for the Egyptian revivalist poetry of the 1910s, his poetry was accused of being too heavily based on both European and classical influences, an accusation he didn't greatly dispute; and after 1917 he published very little additional poetry. Unsatisfied with teaching, al-Mazini became a full-time journalist in 1918, writing initially for the newspaper ''Wad'' in
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, and then for a series of newspapers with varying political perspectives, generally united only in being opposed to the
Wafd Party The Wafd Party (; , ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist Liberalism, liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930s. During th ...
. He continued to publish literary criticism, and in 1921 co-wrote the critical work '' al-Diwan'' with al-Aqqad, which included an attack on the conservative literary establishment represented by writers such as Mustafa Lutfi el-Manfaluti and
Ahmed Shawqi Ahmed Shawqi (, , ; 1868–1932), nicknamed the Prince of Poets ( ''Amīr al-Shu‘arā’''), was an Egyptian poet laureate, linguist, and one of the most famous Arabic literary writers of the modern era in the Arab World. Life Shawqi was b ...
. Al-Mazini, al-Aqqad, and Shurki became known as the Diwan Group, which was greatly influenced by English
lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...
, and emphasized poetry that conveyed the poet's experience and emotion, as well as avoiding social and political commentary.


Novelist and essayist

Al-Mazini began writing prose in the mid-1920s, and completed his first novel, '' Ibrahim al-Katib'' (''Ibrahim the Writer''), in 1925–26, though it didn't receive publication until 1931. Upon its publication, it was considered a landmark in Egyptian literature, "probably the first novel to depend primarily for its well-recognized fame on its artistic value", rather than for its social, political, or historical views, as was common in Egyptian literature of the time. He was among the contributors of '' Al Siyasa'', newspaper of the Liberal Constitutional Party. Despite the novel's positive reception, al-Mazini forsook novel-writing for political and narrative essay-writing from 1931 to 1943; some of his writings from this period were published in two collections, ''Khuyut al-Ankabut'' (''Spider Webs'', 1935) and ''Fi al-tariq'' (''On the Road'', 1937). He also during that time helped found the
Egyptian Journalists Syndicate ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years ...
in 1941, and served as its first vice-president. The break in his novel-writing career may have been related to a plagiarism controversy, as ''Ibrahim al-Katib'' contained several pages from a Russian novel al-Mazini had previously translated. In 1943, he published a sequel to ''Ibrahim al-Katib'', entitled ''Ibrahim al-thani'' (''Ibrahim the Second''), as well as three additional novels in quick succession. Late in life, he was elected to both the
Arab Academy of Damascus The Arab Academy of Damascus () is the oldest academy regulating the Arabic language, established in 1918 during the reign of Faisal I of Syria. It is based in al-Adiliyah Madrasa, and is modeled on the language academies of Europe, and founded w ...
and Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mazini, Ibrahim 1890 births 1949 deaths Egyptian literary critics Egyptian male novelists Egyptian male poets Writers from Cairo 20th-century Egyptian poets 20th-century Egyptian novelists 20th-century Egyptian translators 20th-century Egyptian male writers 20th-century Egyptian journalists Members of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo