Emily Nasrallah
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Emily Nasrallah (Arabic: اميلي نصرالله, Imilī Naṣr Allāh), née Emily Abi Rashed on July 6, 1931 in Kfeir, Lebanon; is a Lebanese writer and women's rights activist. Emily showed literary talents at an early age, she took up writing and journalism while still in college a talent for which she would receive great recognition. She graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1958 with a BA in education and literature, but soon achieved acclaim for her writing with the publication of her first novel, Birds of September, in 1962. The book earned her instant praise and three Arabic literary prizes. She became a prolific writer, publishing many novels, children’s stories and short story collections touching on themes such as family, village life, war, emigration and women’s rights. The latter has been a subject she has maintained support for throughout her life.[2][3]
Biography
Early life
Emily Abi Rashed was born in the small village of al-Kfeir (at the western foot of Mount Hermon in southern Lebanon) on 6 July 1931 to Daoud Abi Rahshed and his wife Latfa, née Abou Nasr. The eldest of six children, Emily grew up working in the village fields with her parents; an experience that would have later echoes in her writings. Little Emily watched the village emptying and family members emigrating in search for greener pastures especially that the village offered feeble educational and professional prospects.[4] Kfeir’s public school only received students at the age of six but four year old Emily's passion for learning drove her to eavesdrop on the classes, the school being adjacent to her parental home. Emily used to recite the poems and stories she heard to her father and his friends.[1][2] Emily's maternal uncle Ayub Abou Nasr, a fellow of the New York Pen League took special interest in Emily's education when he returned from emigration due to a neurological illness; he quickly recognized the little girls talent and encouraged her learning. Ayub would often ask Emily to write descriptive essays _of Mount Hermon for example_ which helped broaden her imagination and further her writing skills.[1][5]
Youth in the boarding school
After finishing her studies at the elementary public school of the village which only offered education till the third elementary grade at that time,[4] Emily wrote a letter to her second maternal uncle, an expatriate businessman in West Virginia expressing her interest in pursuing higher education and explaining her family's dire financial circumstances that prevented her from paying private schooling fees. Emily's uncle granted her wish and payed for her tuition. Emily left her hometown when she was only nine years of age to pursue her education at the Choueifat National College, a boarding school in the suburbs of Beirut.[1][6] She studied in the Choueifat school for four years, during this period her passion for literature deepened as she became an avid reader.[1] Emily compensated for the absence of a library in her hometown with spending many hours at the Choueifat school library;[4] since she had no resources to buy books, Emily resorted to smuggling Mikha'il Na'ima and Khalil Gibran books _who would influence her writing career greatly_ from the college library in order to read them illicitly in her bed. Young Emily's fondness of reading was ever-growing, she admitted enjoying the 'interesting reading material' found in the journal and magazine shreds that enveloped dragées and other sweets.[1]
Emily credits Nassim Nasser her Arabic language teacher in helping to develop her writing skills and orienting her through his 'red correction pen harsh criticism' as Emily puts it. Nassim Nasser was the first to publish Emily's writings in the Telegraph a local Beirutine magazine between the years 1949-1950; he also encouraged and selected Emily to participate in composition and rhetoric contests.[1]
[College and career
After graduation, Emily's parents wanted her to come back to Kfeir and teach at the village school as they did not wish for her to live alone in the city; Emily decided otherwise, she came back to Beirut where she tutored Edvique Shayboub's[nb 1][7] children. Edvique, editor in chief of Sawt al Mar'a (Woman's voice) magazine, helped Emily in her career as she offered her the opportunity to publish articles in her magazine and encouraged her to settle in Beirut.
In 1955, Amal Makdessy Kortas (director of the Ahliah school) offered Emily a job and lodging at the school in Wadi Abu Jamil; she taught for two hours daily at the school where Hanan al-Shaykh had been her pupil.[6] Emily fell short from paying her college education tuition and was financially aided by her friend and colleague at the Ahlia school Jalila Srour. In addition to teaching at the Ahliah school, Emily had to tutor, write magazine articles in Sawt al Mar'a and lend her voice to the national radio (al-itha'a al-lubnaniyya) to repay her debt to Jalila[1] and pay for her college education at the Beirut College for Women[6] and the American University of Beirut where she majored with a Bachelor of Arts in education and literature in 1958.[1][8]
Career and journalism
In 1955 Emily was introduced to Jacqueline Nahas, a journalist at as-Sayyad publishing house and started her 15 years long career at as-Sayyad (the hunter) magazine writing in the society news section; she also contributed articles to al-Anwar newspaper.[1][9] Between 1973 and 1975, Emily worked as cultural and public relation consultant at the Beirut University College before joining Fayruz Magazine from 1981 till 1987 as feature editor.[9]
Personal life
Emily married Philip Nasrallah, a chemist from Zahleh in 1957 while still in college. The couple had four children: Ramzi, Maha, Khalil, and Mona.[8] Emily never left Beirut even at the height of the Lebanese civil war, she became one of the Beirut Decentrists.[6][nb 2] Emily currently lives in Verdun, an exclusive Beiruty neighborhood.[4]
Works
Themes
Novels
- Tuyur Aylul (The birds of September) was Nasrallah's first novel it received critical acclaim and three Arabic literary prizes within the same year of publication in 1962; the prizes are: Laureate Best Novel, the Said Akl Prize, and Friends of the Book Prize.
- Shajarat al-Difla (The olenader tree), published in 1968.
- al-Rahina (The hostage), 1974
- Tilka l-dhikrayat (Those memories), 1980
- al-Iqlaʿ ʿaks al-zaman (Flight against time), 1981
- al-Jamr al-ghafi (The sleeping amber), 1995
- Ma Hadatha Fi Jouzour Tamaya (What Happened in the Tamaya Islands)
Short Stories
- Jazirat al-Wahm (The island of illusion), 1973
- al-Yanbouʿ (The Spring), 1978
- al-Mar'a fi 17 qissa (Women in 17 stories), 1984
- al-Tahuna al-da'iʿa (The lost mill), 1984
- Khubzuna al-yami (Our daily bread), 1988
- Mahattat al-rahil (Stations on a journey), 1996
- Rawat lia al-ayyam (Days recounted), 1997
- Al-Layali al-Ghajariyya (Gypsy Nights), 1998
- Awraq Minsiah (Forgotten papers)
- Aswad wa Abyiad (Black and White)
- Riyah janoubiyyah (Southern Winds)
Children's literature
- Shadi as-Saghir (Little Shadi), 1977
- al-Bahira (The Resplendent Flower)
- Mudhakkirat qitta (A cat's diary), 1988
- ʿala Bissat al Thalj (On a Snow Carpet)
- Al Ghazala (The Gazelle)
- Anda al Khawta (Anda the Fool)
- Ayna tathhab Anda? (Where does Anda go?)
Non fiction
- Nisaa' Ra'idat - Volumes 1,2 and 3 Biographies of pioneer women From the East
- Nisaa' Ra'idat - Volumes 4,5 and 6 Biographies of pioneer women From the West
- Fil Bal" (Recollections of start-up of Journalistic Career)
Notes
- Edvique Shayboub was a contemporary journalist and novelist, editor in chief of Sawt el Mar'a magazine
- miriam cooke coined the term "Beirut decentrists" for the Lebanese women writers as they have been twice "decentred". Once because they are "scattered all over a self-destructing city" and secondly because they are excluded from literary canon and social discourse."
References
- Mansour, Therese (2006-06). "إميلي نصرالله - قلم يرشح نضارة وجمراً". مجلة الجيش (252). http://www.lebanesearmy.gov.lb/article.asp?ln=ar&id=11259. Retrieved 2009-11-21. (Arabic)
- http://www.emilynasrallah.com/english/biography.html
- http://www.emilynasrallah.com/english/books/novels.html
- Davidian, Edgar (2007-03-14). "Emilie Nasrallah : « La liberté ne se donne pas mais elle se prend »" (cultural). iloubnan.info. http://www.iloubnan.info/artetculture/reportage/id/220/article/678. Retrieved 2009-12-08. (French)
- "A writer who has seen the world, but prefers her village". Daily Star. http://www.womenfreedomforum.org/news-en/othernews/emilynasrallah.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
- Cooke, Miriam (1988). War's other voices: women writers on the Lebanese civil war. Landmarks of World Literature. Issue 14 of Cambridge Middle East library (illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 208.
- Shehadeh, Lamia Rustum (1999). Women and war in Lebanon (illustrated ed.). University press of Florida. 20shayboub&f=false. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
- Zeidan, Joseph T. (1995). Arab women novelists: the formative years and beyond. SUNY series in Middle Eastern Studies. SUNY Press. pp. 363. ISBN 9780791421710. http://books.google.com/books Retrieved 2009-11-19.
- Europa publications (2003). International Who's Who of Authors and Writers (19 ed.). Routledge. pp. 640. ISBN 1857431790, 9781857431797.
- Ashour, Radwa; Ferial Ghazoul, Hasna Reda Mekdashi, Mandy McClure (2008). Arab Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999. Arab Women Writers. American university in Cairo press. pp. 526. ISBN 9789774161469.