Elias Abu Shabaki
Elias Abu Shabaki | |
---|---|
Born | Elias Youssef Abu Shabaki May 3, 1903 Providence, Rhode Island, US |
Died | January 27, 1947 Beirut, Lebanon | (aged 43)
Pen name | Rassam, 'Asabsab, Abu Nassif, Al-Shater Hassan[1] |
Occupation |
|
Nationality | Lebanese |
Genre | Romantic poetry |
Literary movement | |
Spouse | Olga Saroufim |
Signature | |
Elias Abu Shabaki (also spelled Ilyas Abu Shabaka;
Born into a well-to-do
Abu Shabaki called for the renewal and modernization of
Biography
Childhood and youth
Elias Abu Shabaki was born on 3 May 1903 in Providence, USA to Youssef Abu Shabaki, a wealthy Lebanese merchant, and his wife Nayla (née Saroufim).[3][5] Elias' mother came from a family well known for its poetic gifts, and both Nayla's brother and maternal uncle (Elias Ferzan) were established poets.[6] The couple had left the Lebanon to visit Nayla's uncle Elias Ferzan in Providence where she gave birth to Elias at Ferzan's place.[3][5] In 1904, Youssef and Nayla settled back in their native town of Zouk Mikael in the current Keserwan District in Mount Lebanon, a town overlooking the Mediterranean Sea which is noted for its natural beauty.
Elias was raised as a devout
In 1914, while Elias' father was visiting his estates in the
Courtship and marriage
When he was 16, Elias met and was infatuated by his neighbor Olga Saroufim who was two years his senior. Their friendship rapidly evolved as they exchanged literary books and letters. Elias' attachment to Olga was most evident when she fell ill with fever during a visit to the southern city of Sour; Elias was reported to have invited his family members to kneel and pray for Olga to get better. After some 10 years of betrothal, Abu Shabaki wedded Olga in December 1931. Elias and Olga had a lone child together who died at birth in 1932.[5]
Career
Having lost his father at an early age, Elias was compelled to teach in order to earn a living. He taught for a while at the
In 1926 Elias produced his first poetic juvenilia al-Kithara (The lyre); the work attests of the young poet's inexperience but also of his promising talent.[3] In 1928 Elias finished al-Marid as-samit (The silent invalid), a narrative poem which is one of Abu Shabaki's best known works, springing from the center of European romantic tradition.[15] His next book Afa'i al-Firdaws (Serpents of Paradise), published in 1938, is lauded by many as Abu Shabaki's best work and one of the best accomplishments of romantic poetry in modern Lebanese and Arabic literature.[14] Afa'i al Firdaws and Elias' latter works would play an influential role in the development of modern Arabic poetry and literature.[14] In 1941 Elias published his third book al-Alhan (The melodies), an ode to simple peasant life, followed in 1944 by Nidaa' al-Qalb (The heart's evocation) and Ila al-Abad (Eternally), where Elias reverts to discussing matters of the heart from a more mature perspective. Ghalwaa was published in 1945. The book's title is an anagram of Olga's name in Arabic.[3]
In addition to poetry, Elias published a number of studies including a study in
Death
Elias died on January 27, 1947, from Leukemia at the Hôtel-Dieu de France Hospital in Beirut, he was buried in his hometown of Zouk Mikael.[4] After his death, Elias' friends put together a number of verses and works that were published in periodicals in a book dubbed Min Sa'id al-Aliha (From the bosom of the Gods) in 1958.[3]
Views and beliefs
Morality
Elias was raised a devout
Abu Shabaki's stances and the subjects he treated were considered provocative and scandalous at the time. He forthrightly and fearlessly confronted matters of sin, sexuality and immorality in a deeply personal manner. Even though he was one of the first Arab literary figures to bluntly address these taboo issues, Abu Shabaki drew praise for his innovative style.[15] During the course of his lengthy engagement to Olga, Elias had a torrid love affair with a married woman that is subliminally confessed in his writing of Ghalwa and Serpents of Paradise, where the remorseful Elias engages in constant conflict between lust and love and the struggle to reconcile sensual bestiality with spirituality.[15] Despite Abu Shabaki's celebration of carnal pleasures, he retained his belief in God whose judgement he feared; his poems show a concern for the spiritual expenses that these pleasures entail.[10]
Women and sexuality
Some scholars[nb 1] argue that Elias was a misogynist[15] as attested at an early stage in his works such as this passage from al-Kithara:
" Beware of love! In love is evil, it is a fire in the heart which melts. If there is a deceitful heart in men, then the hearts of women are more so."[nb 2]
Elias epitomized beautiful lewd women as diabolical creatures, cunning temptresses causing man's downfall and "Serpents of Paradise"; this bitter and ironical
Despite his views Elias was romantically involved with at least four women according to his biographer Razzuk Faraj Razzuk. Olga Saroufim whom Abu Shabaki married in 1931 was the main love of his life yet he had an affair with Rose, a married woman in his hometown, while he was engaged to marry in 1929. Elias alludes to this experience in many of his writings, especially his book "Serpents of Paradise". The third woman to mark Abu Shabaki's life, albeit in a minor role, was an Egyptian singer called Hadia who exercised a calming effect on Abu Shabaki, as evidenced by the poem written for her. After having parted with the singer, in 1940 Elias met a dancer called Leila Adem; the poems in "The Call of the Heart" and "To Eternity" were written for her. Abu Shabaki's relationship with Leila continued until his death in 1947.[6][7][16][17]
Writing
Abu Shabaki's was a prolific writer, publishing a wide variety of works including poems, journal articles and literary studies. Widely seen as his most important work was Afa'i al-Firdaws (1938). Elias' writing is characterized by powerful imagery, realism and often a striking carnality and obsession with the pleasures of the flesh. Elias believed that the purest art evolves from emotion, which he thought was the source of authentic and aesthetic experience; he set a high value for inspiration and denounced rationalism and the role of conscious control in writing poetry. In one poem Abu Shabaki wrote that truthful poetry is the best, contrary to the old Arabic saying that the best poetry is that which feigns most.[10]
Influences
The many hardships and emotional challenges that Abu Shabaki endured, from growing up fatherless amid the First World War to losing his only born son, influenced his gloomy poetry which conveys a strong sense of the presence of evil in the world and an effort to find an escape in love or in the innocence of childhood and nature.[18] Elias' often pessimistic writings evoked a concern for the body and its lust, greatly affected by Romantic works he had read during his youth which commended loneliness, sorrow, passion, pain and death and denounced the materialism and lewdness of city life.[8] Christian tradition and imagery inspired and permeated much of Abu Shabaki's work, which abounds in biblical images, mirroring the experiences of a Christian who felt deeply about the teachings of the Catholic Church.[6]
League of ten
In 1930, Abu Shabaki along with
Publications
Al-Kithara
Elias' first Diwan, al-Kithara (The Lyre), was published in 1926 by Sader publishers. Al-Kithara was Elias' earliest work, attesting of the young poet's inexperience while revealing his great poetic potential. The juvenilia that showed the influence of classical Arab poets such as Abu Nuwas was described as gloomy and pretentious. It contained a number of poems translated from French and was dedicated to the spirit of Abu Shabaki's dead father; the dedication established the melancholy and pessimistic mood that pervade the Diwan.[1][3][15][19]
Al-Marid as-samet
Al-Marid as-samet (The Silent Invalid) was Elias' second juvenilia. It was published in 1928 and was the poet's first trial at narrative poetry.[1][15]
Ghalwaa
Abu Shabaka's narrative poem Ghalwaa was written between the years 1926 and 1932 but wasn't published until 1945 by Sader Press, two years before the poet's death.[1][14] The poem was inspired by Elias' love interest and muse Olga; the poem's title is an anagram of Olga's name in Arabic (أولغا=غلواء). It was viewed ever since its publication as an influential and progressive work which revolutionized Arabic literature and as a prime example of Arabic romanticism. The generally acclaimed masterpiece owed its success to its sheer artistic merit, impressive length and the juxtaposition of extreme emotional and moral situations such as passion and sin. Although Mahjarite writers had produced similar long poems, they seldom engaged in poems with such clear narrative plot.[1][14]
Afa'i al-Firdaws
Afa'i al-Firdaws (Serpents of Paradise) is a collection of 13 poems written between 1928 and 1938 and published in 1938 by the now-defunct Dar al-Makshouf publishing press. The book is highly regarded as a masterpiece of Lebanese poetry; it draws inspiration from love and eroticism in a clear connection to the influences of French romantic works such as
Al-Alhan
Al-Alhan (The melodies) is an
Nidaa al-Qalb and Ila al-Abad
Published in 1942 by Dar al-Makshouf, Nidaa al-Qalb (The Call of the Heart) is a collection of love poems. In this volume, Elias placed aside his view of Woman as an evil snare and extolled chaste love, in a striking contrast with the harsh judgement and hedonistic pursuits expressed in Afai al-firdaws. In the poem The Cup, Abu Shabaki, having recovered peace and his faith in love, accepts his predicament as a poet who is unappreciated by his society.
Ila al-Abad (To Eternity) was the last of Abu Shabaki's works published during his lifetime, the anthology confirmed Elias' return to peace that was evidenced in The Call of the Heart. The crude sensuality of his earlier works are totally replaced with more refined and mystical dimensions of love that are further emphasized in this book which was also issued by Dar al-Makshouf in 1944.[1][10]
Legacy
Elias is considered a cornerstone in modern Arabic poetry in Lebanon and one of the greatest Arab poets; he is also one of the leading Lebanese figures of Arabic romanticism.[6] His revival of the romantic school, long dormant in the Occident, was pursued by a large following of Arab contemporary poets and writers. The romantic movement is now outdated in the Middle East but Abu Shabaka's work still attracts young readers who appreciate sentimentality and poetry and have little taste for the socio-political raptness found in the work of modern, politically engaged Arab poets. Abou Shabaki's work confirmed the Christian tradition in modern Arabic literature and helped establish the Bible as a literary source in Arabic. Later writers and poets benefited from the revival of biblical themes and legends which Abu Shabaki's poetry portrayed.[3][6] The poet influenced the writings of many of his successors like
Elias Abu Shabaki Museum
On 11 June 2008, the Zouk Mikael municipality inaugurated the Elias Abu Shabaki museum in the poet's home. Abu Shabaki's mansion in Zouk Mikael was built by his father and uncle, who traded goods between Egypt, Sudan and Lebanon. The mansion was designed by an Egyptian architect, built by local stonemasons and its interior walls were decorated by Austrian artists. In the later years of his life, Elias had mortgaged his house due to his poor financial condition. The municipality appropriated the plot in the 1970s and saved the house and its gardens from being replaced by a residential building. The mansion was restored during the next 2 decades and was refurbished with the original furniture and accessories of the poet that were saved by his wife's family; in addition to the furniture, the museum houses a collection of the poet's books, original manuscripts and letters.[5][21][22][23]
Notes
- ^ Robin Ostle in Between Heaven and Hell: Sin and Sexuality in the Poetry of Ilyas Abu Shabaka (1903–1947), Representations of the Divine in Arabic Poetry. Gert Borg and Ed de Moor (Eds.).Orientations 5, Editions Rodopi, Amsterdam-Atlanta, 2001, pp183-193
- ^ Al-Kithara, (Beirut 1926) p.35.
- ^ Al-Rusum, (Beirut 1929)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h almoajam staff. إلياس أبو شبكة. معجم البابطين لشعراء العربية في القرنين التاسع عشر والعشرين (in Arabic). almoajam.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ al-Khatib, Hussam (2004). الأدب المقارن (in Arabic). Arab encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-06167-5.
- ^ a b c d e al-Kheir, Hani (2008). كواليس المبدعين الياس أبو شبكة و(غلواء) الشعر (in Arabic). alThawra. Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ^ a b c d Abi Yaghi, Jeanne d'Arc (2004). بين جدرانها ذكريات وأشياء حميمة حـارة القرميد تتحـوّل متحفاً للشاعر الياس أبو شبكة (in Arabic). Lebanese Army. Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-04920-8.
- ^ a b Zouk municipality (2008). "Personalities: Elias Abou Chabkeh". ZoukMikael.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-08359-2.
- ISBN 978-90-04-04795-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-29023-4.
- ^ Massouh, Moufid (2007-10-01). بين قيثارة الياس أبو شبكة وغَلْوائه .. "ما نحن نُحْييك لكنْ أنتَ تُحيينا". www.jamaliya.com (in Arabic). Jamalia. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
- ^ "ألبير أديب ومجلة «الأديب»" (in Arabic). Al Arabi. Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- ^ One fine art staff. "Elias Abou Chabke". One fine art. One fine art.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
- ^ JSTOR 4182970.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-420-1574-6.
- ^ Razzuk, Razzuk Faraj (1956). Ilyas Abu Shabaka wa shi'ruhu (in Arabic). Dar al-kitab al-lubnani.
- ^ Massouh, Mufid (February 18, 2007). الشاعر اللبناني هنري زغيب: فصول أدبية في ذكرى أبو شبكة. Jamaliya (in Arabic). Jamaliya.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
- ^ Salwa Nassar Foundation (1969). Cultural resources in Lebanon. Librairie du Liban. pp. 253–254.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7486-1290-1.
- ^ Tahan, Mohammad Jamal (February 19, 2009). "هنري زغيب - شاعر غنّى الحب العاشق حتى الثمالة". Interviews. arabiancreativity.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
- ^ "The museum Abou Chabke : a tribute to poetry". Zouk Mikael municipality official website. Zouk Mikael Municipality. Archived from the original on 2011-11-26. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
- ^ Meaiki, Michel (June 15, 2008). منزل الشاعر الياس أبو شبكة متحفاً. aljarida (in Arabic). aljaridaonline.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
- ^ Zgheib, Henri (June 1, 2007). الياس أبو شبكة – 77 الشارع العام – زوق مكايل. jamaliya (in Arabic). Jamaliya.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
Further reading
- Razzuk, Faraj Razzuk (1956). Ilyas Abu Shabaka wa shi'ruhu. Beirut: Dar al-kitab al-lubnani.