Rashid Al-Daif

Abir Hamdar (University of Durham)

Ed. by Ziad Elmarsafy, King's College London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 6.1.3: Middle-Eastern Arabic Writing and Culture: Modern and Contemporary.
Vol. editors: Ziad Elmarsafy (King's College London), Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Nora Parr (SOAS, University of London), Rita Sakr (Maynooth University), Anastasia Valassopoulos (University of Manchester)

Dates

Born 1945
Activity 1979-ongoing

Places

Born in Lebanon
Active in Lebanon

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Other

Poet

Resources

Al-Daif's Works

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Described as the “Arab world's answer to Italo Calvino or Umberto Eco” (Rakha), Rashid al-Daif is one of Lebanon’s most celebrated and prolific writers. His literary output ranges from poetry and short stories to novels, many of which have been translated into other languages and gained both commercial and critical recognition internationally. His work has also been adapted for film and the stage. Despite all this, al-Daif wonders: “I don’t know if I am a writer, although I write. I don’t say that purely for the sense of paradox, it’s a real feeling. What is it to be “a writer”? What can I say? I write. I live for writing” (Banipal).

Born in 1945 into a Christian Maronite family from Ehden, Zgharta, in the north of Lebanon, al-Daif studied Arabic Literature at the

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2124 words

Citation: Hamdar, Abir. "Rashid Al-Daif". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 July 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13078, accessed 23 November 2024.]