Abdelwahab Meddeb facts for kids
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Abdelwahab Meddeb
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Abdelwahab Meddeb at the 'Comédie du Livre' of Montpellier in 2011
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| Born | 17 January 1946 Tunis, French Tunisia
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| Died | 5 November 2014 (aged 68) |
Abdelwahab Meddeb (Tunisian Arabic: عبد الوهاب المدب; 1946 – November 5, 2014) was a talented writer and cultural expert from Tunisia. He wrote in French and taught comparative literature at the University of Paris X-Nanterre.
Contents
A Life of Learning and Culture
Abdelwahab Meddeb was born in Tunis, French Tunisia, in 1946. His family was well-educated and respected. His family roots stretched across different countries, from Libya and Yemen on his mother's side, to Spain and Morocco on his father's side.
Early Education and Influences
Meddeb grew up in a traditional Maghrebi Muslim family. He started learning the Qur'an at age four from his father, Sheik Mustapha Meddeb. His father was a scholar of Islamic law at the Zitouna, a famous mosque and university in Tunis.
At age six, he began a special bilingual education at a Franco-Arabic school. This school was part of the well-known Collège Sadiki. This early education helped him learn about both Arabic and French cultures. As he grew older, he studied classic books from both Arabic and European literatures.
Moving to Paris and Career Beginnings
In 1967, Meddeb moved to Paris, France. He continued his studies at the Sorbonne, focusing on art history. From 1970 to 1972, he helped create a dictionary called Petit Robert: Des Noms Propres. He wrote entries about Islam and art history for it.
Later, from 1974 to 1987, he worked as a literary consultant at Sindbad publications. Here, he helped introduce French readers to important Arabic and Persian books. He also shared the works of great Sufi writers.
Teaching and Writing
Meddeb was a visiting professor at Yale University and the University of Geneva. Since 1995, he taught comparative literature at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. He also helped edit the journal Intersignes from 1992 to 1994. In 1995, he started his own journal called Dédale.
His first novel, Talismano, was published in Paris in 1979. This book quickly became an important work in postcolonial fiction written in French. At that time, he was seen as "one of the best young writers from North Africa" in France.
Speaking Out on Important Issues
After the events of 9/11, Meddeb's work took on a more urgent political side. He had a unique perspective, combining both Western and Islamic, French and Arabic influences. He was a strong critic of Islamic fundamentalism. He spoke out against what he called "Islamic fascism," which he saw as misusing traditional Islamic values. He believed it tried to control people's private lives and dreamed of harming large groups of people.
Meddeb strongly supported secularism (the idea of separating religion from government). He believed this was key to having a democracy and bringing Islam into the modern world. His views came from his position as a North African writer living in France. He felt it was his duty as a public intellectual to share his knowledge.
His deep historical and cultural studies led to many books, interviews, and radio talks. His 2002 book, La Maladie de l’Islam (translated as The Malady of Islam), explored the rich history of medieval Islamic civilization. It also looked at why it later declined. Meddeb argued that this decline led to modern Islamic fundamentalism.
Media Presence and Legacy
Meddeb used various media to share his ideas and encourage discussion. He wrote editorials for the French newspaper Le Monde about events like the Israeli invasion of Gaza. He also commented on important speeches, like Obama's "Cairo Speech".
He hosted two weekly radio programs: "Cultures d’islam" on Radio France Culture and "Point de Vue" on Médi 1. He also appeared on television and gave online interviews. After his death, Abdennour Bidar took over the "Cultures d’islam" radio program.
Meddeb's work brought together writers and scholars from both East and West. He discussed history, culture, religion, and politics. He challenged common ideas that Muslims and Europeans had about each other. He was a voice for a tolerant Islam, even though some militant Muslim groups and left-wing journalists criticized him.
Overview of Literary Work
From his first essays, novels, and poems in the mid-1970s, Meddeb's writing was always varied. He mixed and went beyond different genres of writing. His texts showed that he was a polymath, someone with knowledge in many different subjects.
His French sentences had a special flow, like the thoughts of a flâneur (a thoughtful walker in the city) or a poet without limits. He used images that connected ideas, allowing his writing to travel through space and time. He would discuss writers like Dante and Ibn Arabi, Sufi poets and Stéphane Mallarmé, Spinoza, Aristotle and Averroes (Ibn Rushd), and even poets from classical China and Japan.
Unique Writing Style
Meddeb used what he called an "esthetics of the heterogeneous." This means he played with different literary forms from many traditions. These included the European modernist novel, pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, medieval mystical poets of Islam, and Japanese Haiku.
Even though he wrote only in French, he also translated medieval Arabophone poets. He wanted to "free Islamic references from their strict context" so they could appear in modern French texts. This gave his writing a unique, mysterious feel. He focused on the beauty, spiritual, and ethical sides of Islam. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages. It helps create a richer conversation in today's world literature.
He translated works by Sufi writers, especially Suhrawardi and Abû Yazid al-Bistami.
Literary prizes
- 2002 – Prix François Mauriac, for La Maladie de l’Islam
- 2002 – Prix Max Jacob, for Matière des oiseaux
- 2007 – Prix international de littérature francophone Benjamin Fondane – for Contre-prêches
Translation
- In 1983, Abdelwahab Meddeb translated the novel Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih into French.
Filmography
- "Miroirs de Tunis", directed by Raul Ruiz, 1993.
See also
- Islamic Modernism
