BornMarun Mikhail Al Naqqash
9 February 1817
Sidon, Ottoman Empire
Died1 June 1855(1855-06-01) (aged 38)
Tarsus, Mersin
OccupationBusinessman
LanguageArabic
GenrePlay
Years active1840s–1855
Notable worksAl-bakhīl
 Literature portal

Marun Al Naqqash (Arabic: مارون النقاش) (1855–1817) was a Sidon-born Maronite merchant who produced the first theatre play texts in Arabic language.

Early life and education

Al Naqqash was born in Sidon on 9 February 1817 into a Maronite family.[1] In 1825 his family moved to Beirut where he studied Arabic language, literature in addition to law and foreign languages, including French, Italian and Turkish.[1][2] He also involved in poetry, Oriental music and was educated as a bookkeeper.[1]

Career and activities

Following the completion of his studies Al Naqqash began to work as a chief clerk at the customs department and became a member of the chamber of commerce in Beirut.[1] He traveled to Damascus, Aleppo and Egypt for business.[2][3] In 1846 he went to Italy where he was introduced the Italian theatre and opera.[2] After he returned to Lebanon he translated The Miser, a play by Molière, into Arabic and published it with the title Al-bakhīl in 1847 which was the first Arabic play text.[2][3] Al-bakhīl was written in the standard Arabic[4] and in verse rather than in prose which made it ready for musical performance.[1] It was staged in 1847.[5] The Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid was praised in the play.[6]

Al Naqqash also established a theatre near to his Beirut home after granting a permission from the Ottomans where Al-bakhīl was performed in 1847.[3] Then he produced two original plays. The first one was Abu Al Hasan al-Mughaffal aw Harun Al Rashid (Arabic: Abu Al Hasan the Gullible or the Caliph Harun Al Rashid) which was an adaptation of the One Thousand and One Nights and was performed at his theatre in 1850.[1][5] His last play was entitled Al Salit al-Hasud (Arabic: The Impudent and Jealous Young Man) which was staged in 1852.[5]

The content of Al Naqqash's plays was patriotic and loyal to the Ottoman Empire.[5] Al Naqaash also wrote political poems in which he praised the Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid and the Egyptian governor.[5]

Personal life and death

His nephew, Salim Al Naqqash, also involved in theatre and formed a theatrical troupe.[3]

Al Naqqash went to Tarsus on 19 September 1854 for business where he died of fever on 1 June 1855 at age 38.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Matti Moosa (1972). "Naqqāsh and the Rise of the Native Arab Theatre in Syria". Journal of Arabic Literature. 3: 106–117. doi:10.1163/157006472X00062.
  2. ^ a b c d Lovisa Berg (2016). "Al-Naqqāsh, Mārūn (55-1817) مارون النقاش". Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism. doi:10.4324/9781135000356-REM1029-1.
  3. ^ a b c d Muhammad Mustafa Badawi (1988). Early Arabic Drama. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-0-521-34427-2.
  4. ^ Gunvor Mejdell (2017). "Et Dukkehjem in Arabic Translation". Ibsen Studies. 17 (1): 29. doi:10.1080/15021866.2017.1308170. hdl:10852/59655. S2CID 171471593.
  5. ^ a b c d e Adam Mestyan (2017). Arab Patriotism: The Ideology and Culture of Power in Late Ottoman Egypt. Princeton, NJ; Oxford: Princeton University Press. pp. 31–33. ISBN 9780691172644.
  6. ^ Stephan Guth (2021). "Arab Perspectives on the Late Ottoman Empire". In Johanna Chovanec; Olof Heilo (eds.). Narrated Empires. Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 125. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-55199-5_6. ISBN 978-3-030-55199-5. S2CID 234107535.
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