May Ziadeh
May Ziadeh مي زيادة | |
---|---|
Vilayet of Syria | |
Died | 17 October 1941 Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt | (aged 55)
Pen name | Isis Copia |
Occupation | Writer |
Signature | |
May Elias Ziadeh (
After attending school in her native city
May Elias Ziadeh was one of the key figures of the Nahda in the early 20th-century Middle Eastern literary scene and a "pioneer of Oriental feminism."[2][7][8]
Biography
Early and personal life
May Ziadeh was the daughter of Elias Zakhur Ziadeh, a
May Elias Ziadeh attended primary school in
Ziadeh never married,
Between 1928 and 1932, Ziadeh suffered a series of personal losses, beginning with the death of her parents, a number of her friends, and above all Khalil Gibran. She fell into a deep depression and returned to Lebanon where her relatives placed her in a psychiatric hospital to gain control over her estate.[1] Nawal El Saadawi alleges that Ziadeh was sent to the hospital for expressing feminist sentiments.[8] Ziadeh was profoundly humiliated and incensed by this decision; she eventually recovered and left after a medical report proved that she was of sound mental health. She returned to Cairo where she died on October 17, 1941.[2][16]
Journalism and language studies
Ziadeh's father founded Al Mahroussah newspaper while the family was in Egypt. She contributed to a number of articles.[2] She also published articles in Al Hilal, Al Ahram and Al Muqtataf.[17]
Ziadeh was particularly interested in learning languages. She studied privately at home alongside her French-Catholic education, and later at a local university for a Modern Languages degree while in Egypt. She graduated in 1917.
Key Middle Eastern literary figure
Ziadeh was well known in Middle Eastern literary circles, receiving many male and female writers and intellectuals at a literary salon she established in 1912 (and which Egyptian poet
Philosophical views
Feminism and Orientalism
Unlike her peers
She specified that female evolution towards equality need not be enacted at the expense of femininity, but rather that it was a parallel process.
Romanticism
Bearing a romantic streak from childhood, Ziadeh was successively influenced by
Works
Ziadeh's first published work, Fleurs de rêve (1911), was a volume of
Well noted titles of her works in Arabic (with English translation in brackets) include:
- Bâhithat el-Bâdiya باحثة البادية ("Seeker in the Desert", pen name of Malak Hifni Nasif)
- Sawâneh fatât سوانح فتاة (Platters of Crumbs)
- Zulumât wa Ichâ'ât ظلمات وإشاعات (Humiliation and Rumors...)
- Kalimât wa Ichârât كلمات وإشارات (Words and Signs)
- Al Saha'ef الصحائف (The Newspapers)
- Ghayat Al-Hayât غاية الحياة (The Meaning of Life)
- Al-Musâwât المساواة (Equality)
- Bayna l-Jazri wa l-Madd بين الجزر والمد (Between the Ebb and Flow)
Feminist works
Ziadeh is considered by many as integral to the feminist movement having published many autobiographies of women between 1919-1925, this was part of her advocacy for the empowerment of women, examples of women featured in her work include Egyptian feminist Malak Hifni Nassef in her book Bahithat-ul-Badia.[22][23] She was credited as being the first woman to use the term "women's cause" in the Middle East according to critic Hossam Aql, "She was the first professional writer to take a critical approach to women's stories or novels".[5][24] Her fiction often included strong female characters and discussed the condition of Middle Eastern women, for example in one of her short stories, she illustrates the evil of frequent divorce and remarriage which she blames on men and patriarchal society.[23][24]
Awards
In 1999, May Ziadeh was named by the Lebanese Minister of Culture as the personage of the year around which the annual celebration of "Beirut, cultural capital of the Arab world" would be held.[2]
Legacy
A Google Doodle on 11 February 2012 commemorated Ziadeh's 126th birth anniversary.[25]
See also
Notes
- ^ Also transcribed Ziadé, Ziyada, Ziyadah, Ziyadeh.
References
- ^ a b c d Khader, Lubna (21 October 1999). "Previously Featured Life of a Woman: May Ziade". Lebanese Women's Association. Archived from the original on 18 April 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "May Ziade: Temoin authentique de son epoque" [May Ziade: Authentic witness of her era] (in French). Art et culture. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
- ^ Ovo, Podjeli (30 October 2014). "Remembering May Ziadeh: Ahead of (her) Time". middle east revised. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014.
- ^ Ouyang 2008, p. 188.
- ^ a b c "May Ziade: Arab Romantic Poet and Feminist Pioneer". Inside Arabia. 15 February 2020. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020.
- ^ Ghunaim, Raneem (3 July 2020). "Her Fascinating Story a Writer from Nazareth- May Ziada". Arab America. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ a b Boustani 2003, p. 203.
- ^ a b Peterson & Lewis 2001, p. 220.
- ^ جدلية, Jadaliyya (8 June 2014). "May Ziada: A Profile from the Archives". Jadaliyya - جدلية. Translated by Hakeem, Mazen. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- OCLC 607786901.
- ISBN 978-2-38236-574-8.
- ^ Ashour et al. 2008, page bottom.
- OCLC 502559963– via kahlilgibran.com.
- ^ a b "Notice sur la poétesse May Ziade" [Note on the poet May Ziade]. BIBLIB (in French). 21 March 2001. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007.
- ^ Gibran 1983.
- ^ Khaldi 2008, p. 103.
- S2CID 158818848.
- ^ Gibran 2006, p. 22.
- ^ Zaydān 1995, p. 75.
- ^ Stephan, Rita (7 November 2014). "Four Waves of Lebanese Feminism". E-International Relations. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ Ziegler 1999, p. 103.
- ISBN 9781135000356, retrieved 22 December 2022
- ^ S2CID 145644529.
- ^ a b "May Ziade: The Life of an Arab Feminist Writer". Al Jazeera. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2024. Click Read more for article and second video.
- ^ "May Ziade's 126th Birthday Doodle". Google Doodles. 11 February 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
Sources
- OCLC 10018815770.
- Boustani, Carmen (2003). Effets du féminin: variations narratives francophones. Collection Lettres du Sud. OCLC 53297358.
- ]
- Gibran, Kahlil (1983). Blue Flame: The Love Letters of Kahlil Gibran to May Ziadah. Translated by OCLC 713801519.
- Khaldi, Boutheina (2008). Arab Women Going Public: Mayy Ziyadah and her Literary Salon in a Comparative Context (Thesis). Bloomington, IN, US: Indiana University. OCLC 320954792.
- OCLC 156831780.
- Peterson, Janice; Lewis, Margaret (2001) [1999]. The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing. OCLC 827907131.
- Zaydān, Jūzīf (1995). Arabic Women Novelists: The Formative Years and Beyond. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 53–57, 59–62, 74–77. OCLC 42854941– via Inernet Archive.
- Ziegler, Antje (1999). "Al-Haraka Baraka! The Late Rediscovery of Mayy Ziyāda's Works". Die Welt des Islams. 39 (1): 103–115. OCLC 5672404871.
Further reading
- S2CID 143719304.
- Buck, Claire, ed. (1992). The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature. New York: Prentice Hall General Reference. OCLC 25628283.
- Khoury, Raif Georges (2003). Mayy Ziyāda (1886-1941), entre la tradition et la modernité, ou, Le renouvellement des perspectives culturelles et sociales dans son œuvre, à l'image de l'Europe [Mayy Ziyāda (1886-1941), between tradition and modernity, or, The renewal of cultural and social perspectives in his work, like Europe] (in French). Edingen-Neckarhause: Deux Mondes. OCLC 52554410.
- Khumayrī, al-Ṭāhir; Kampffmeyer, Georg (1930). Leaders in Contemporary Arabic Literature: A Book of Reference. Leipzig: Harrassowitz. pp. 24–27. OCLC 21107015.
External links
- May Ziade: The Life of an Arab Feminist Writer | Al Jazeera World on YouTube
- Sonal, Emine. "May Ziadeh". One Fine Art. Suggested Curriculum Developments to Communicate Women's Rights Through Literature: Poetry by Women in U.S.A., Turkey and Egypt. Archived from the original on 10 December 2005.