Louis Awad (, el-Minya; 5 January 1915 – 9 September 1990) was an

Egyptian ''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 year ...

intellectual and a writer. Born to a

Coptic Orthodox Christian The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apos ...

family in the upper

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 ...

, in Sharuna village, in

Minya, Egypt MinyaAlso spelled '' el...'' or ''al...'' ''...Menia, ...Minia'' or ''...Menya'' ( ) is the capital of the Minya Governorate in Upper Egypt. It is located approximately south of Cairo on the western bank of the Nile River, which flows north ...

, Awad studied at the literature department of

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

before setting off to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

for further studies before the

Second World War 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 returned to

in 1941, after which he lived in the Cairo district of

Dokki Dokki ( , is one of nine districts that make up Giza city, which is part of Greater Cairo, in Egypt. Dokki is situated on the western bank of the Nile, directly across from Downtown Cairo. It is a vital residential and commercial district wi ...

for much of his adult life. He studied literature at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. In 1947 he was a professor of English at Cairo University and published a revolutionary collection of poems called ''Plotoland'' (also spelled ''Plutoland'') wherein he introduced free verse forms to Egyptian literature and presented a scathing attack on traditionalism in poetry. He was the first Egyptian chairman of the English Department (Faculty of Letters) at

and while there, he encouraged students to listen to classical music. When surrealism in art reached Egypt, he didn't denounce it but was quoted as saying, "“Whatever we think about the originality of this art form in Egypt, it was good at dealing a death blow to academism.” From 1945 to 1950 he joined with other writers who drew from

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and other sources in a call for the total reform of Egyptian society. He attended talks by

Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was among the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a leading figure of the Arab Renaissance and the modernist movement in the Arab world. His sobriquet ...

with Denys Johnson-Davies. He was outspoken in his wish for "democratization and secularism in the Arab world" and he is celebrated in Egypt for having been a contemporary thinker. Awad's unwavering critical stance continued after the 1952 revolution. As a consequence, he suffered the humiliation of being forced to resign his position at Cairo University in 1954. In 1976, he wrote about the revolution in ''The Seven Masks of Nasserism: Discussing Heikal and Tawfik Al-Hakim''. Awad became the literary editor at the newspaper

al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

-the largest daily newspaper of the Middle East making him one of the leading opinion-makers in the Arab world.

References

External links

The permanent revolution: From Cairo to Paris with the Egyptian surrealists by Fatenn Mostafa Kanafani 11/11/2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awad, Louis Egyptian people of Coptic descent Egyptian literary critics 1915 births 1990 deaths Cairo University alumni Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Princeton University alumni People from Minya Governorate Academic staff of Cairo University

See also

References

External links