Etel Adnan
Encyclopedia
Etel Adnan is a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist.
In 2003 MELUS, the journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, called Adnan "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American
author writing today."
She has said, "As for any serious writer, the audience of an Arab–American cannot be confined to his or her fellow Arabs. Books have a life of their own and no one can determine their fate. The only thing we can strive for consciously is to be aware of the existence of a growing body of Arab–American literature, try to know it and make it known."
Caught between languages, in her youth Adnan first found her voice through painting rather than writing. In 1996 she recalled, "Abstract art was the equivalent of poetic expression; I didn't need to use words, but colors and lines. I didn't need to belong to a language-oriented culture but to an open form of expression."
At twenty-four Adnan traveled to Paris where she received a degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne
. She then traveled to America where she continued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley
and at Harvard University
. She taught philosophy of art at the Dominican University of California
in San Rafael for many years, and has lectured at universities throughout the United States. She divides her time between California, France, and Lebanon.
In 2003 MELUS, the journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, called Adnan "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American
Arab American
An Arab American is a United States citizen or resident of Arab ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage or identity, who identifies themselves as Arab. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World...
author writing today."
She has said, "As for any serious writer, the audience of an Arab–American cannot be confined to his or her fellow Arabs. Books have a life of their own and no one can determine their fate. The only thing we can strive for consciously is to be aware of the existence of a growing body of Arab–American literature, try to know it and make it known."
Life
MELUS calls Adnan's life "a study in displacement and alienation." Daughter of a Christian Greek mother and a Muslim Syrian father, she grew up speaking Greek and Turkish in a primarily Arabic-speaking society. Yet she was educated at French convent schools, and French became the language in which her early work was first written. She has also studied English from her youth, and most of her later work has been first written in this language.Caught between languages, in her youth Adnan first found her voice through painting rather than writing. In 1996 she recalled, "Abstract art was the equivalent of poetic expression; I didn't need to use words, but colors and lines. I didn't need to belong to a language-oriented culture but to an open form of expression."
At twenty-four Adnan traveled to Paris where she received a degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
. She then traveled to America where she continued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. She taught philosophy of art at the Dominican University of California
Dominican University of California
Dominican University of California is a four year, accredited, private, Catholic-heritage, and co-educational institution located in San Rafael, California. Founded in 1890 as Dominican College, Dominican is one of the oldest universities in California. The U.S. News and World Report ranks...
in San Rafael for many years, and has lectured at universities throughout the United States. She divides her time between California, France, and Lebanon.
in English
- Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
: A Novel (1978)
Written in French, the novel was translated into English in 1982. It was inspired by the true story of a woman killed in the Lebanese Civil WarLebanese Civil WarThe Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
by a childhood friend who had become a member of the right-wing Christian Kataeb PartyKataeb PartyThe Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
party. Because of its controversial nature, the Arabic translation of the book was not marketed in Christian East Beirut. The novel criticizes the violence both of a Christianity that is "not in actual communication with any force other than the Dragon" and an Islam "forgets all too often that the divine mercy affirmed by the first verse of the Koran can only be expressed by human mercy." - Master of the Eclipse (2009)
- Seasons (2008)
- In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country (2005)
- In/somnia (2002)
- There: In the Light and the Darkness of the Self and of the Other (1997)
- To Write in a Foreign Language (1996)
- Of Cities and Women, Letters to Fawwaz (1993)
- Paris, When It's Naked (1993)
- The Spring Flowers Own and the Manifestations of the Voyage (1990)
- The Arab Apocalypse (1989)
- Journey to Mount Tamalpais: An Essay (1985)
- The Indian Never Had a Horse and Other Poems (1985)
- From A to Z Poetry (1982)
in Arabic
- al-Sitt Mari Ruz: riwayah. (Sitt Marie Rose.), with Jirum Shahin and Firyal Jabburi Ghazul.Al-Qahirah: al-Hayah al-Ammah li-Qusur al-Thaqafah, 2000.
- n mudun wa-nisa: rasail il Fawwaz. (Of Cities and Women.) Bayrut: Dar al-Hihar, 1998.
- Kitab al-bahr; kitab al-layal; kitab al-mawt; kitab al-nihayah, with Abid Azarih. Bayrut: Dar Amwaj, 1994.
- al-Sitt Marie Ruz. Bayrut: al-Mu-assasah al-Arabiyah lil-Dirasat wa-al-Nashr, 1979.
in French
- Ce ciel qui n'est pas. Paris: LHarmattan, 1997.
- Ce Ciel qui n'est pas. Bilingual edition (French-Arabic): Tunis: Tawbad, 2008.
- Rachid Korachi: Ecriture passion, with Rachid Korachi and Jamel-Eddine Bencheikh. Alger: Galerie Mhamed Issiakhem, 1988.
- L'apocalypse arabe. Paris: Papyrus Editions, 1980.
- Sitt Marie Rose. Paris: Des Femmes, 1978.
- Jbu: Suivi de l'Express Beyrouth enfer. Paris: P.J. Oswald, 1973.
Critical reception
- Amireh, Amal; "Bearing Witness: The Politics of Form in Etel Adnan's Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
." Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 2005 Fall; 14 (3): 251-63. (journal article) - Amyuni, Mona Takieddine. "Etel Adnan & Hoda BarakatHoda BarakatHoda Barakat is an acclaimed Lebanese novelist who lived much of her life in Beirut and later moved to Paris, where she now resides...
: De-Centered Perspectives, Subversive Voices." IN: Poetry's Voice-Society's Norms: Forms of Interaction between Middle Eastern Writers and Their Societies. Ed. Andreas Pflitsch and Barbara Winckler. Wiesbaden, Germany: Reichert; 2006. pp. 211–21 - Cassidy, Madeline. "'Love Is a Supreme Violence': The Deconstruction of Gendered Space in Etel Atnan's Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
." IN: Violence, Silence, and Anger: Women's Writing as Transgression. Ed. Deirdre Lashgari. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia; 1995. pp. 282–90 - Champagne, John G. "Among Good Christian Peoples: Teaching Etel Adnan's Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
." College Literature, 2000 Fall; 27 (3): 47-70. - Fernea, Elizabeth. "The Case of Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
: An Ethnographic Novel from the Modern Middle East." IN: Literature and Anthropology. Ed. Philip Dennis and Wendell Aycock. Lubbock: Texas Tech UP; 1989. pp. 153–164 - Foster, Thomas. "Circles of Oppression, Circles of Repression: Etel Adnan's Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
." PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 1995 Jan; 110 (1): 59-74. - Ghandour, Sabah. "Gender, Postcolonial Subject, and the Lebanese Civil War in Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
." IN: The Postcolonial Crescent: Islam's Impact on Contemporary Literature. Ed. John C. Hawley. New York, NY: Peter Lang; 1998. pp. 155–65 - Hajjar, Jacqueline A. "Death, Gangrene of the Soul, in Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
by Etel Adnan." Revue Celfan/Celfan Review, 1988 May; 7 (3): 27-33. - Hartman, Michelle. "'This Sweet/Sweet Music': Jazz, Sam Cooke, and Reading Arab American Literary Identities." MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 2006 Winter; 31 (4): 145-65.
- Karnoub, Elisabeth. "'Une Humanité qui ne cesse de crucifier le Christ': Réécriture du sacrifice christique dans Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
de Etel Adnan." IN: Victims and Victimization in French and Francophone Literature. Ed. Buford Norman. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi; 2005. pp. 59–71 - Kilpatrick, Hilary. "Interview with Etel Adnan (Lebanon)." IN: Unheard Words: Women and Literature in Africa, the Arab World, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. Ed. Mineke Schipper. Trans. Barbara Potter Fasting. London: Allison & Busby; 1985. pp. 114–120
- Layoun, Mary N. "Translation, Cultural Transgression and Tribute, and Leaden Feet." IN: Between Languages and Cultures: Translation and Cross-Cultural Texts. Ed. Anuradha Dingwaney and Carol Maier. Pittsburgh, PA: U of Pittsburgh P; 1995. pp. 267–89
- Marie, Elisabeth Anne. Sacrifice, sacrifée, sacrificatrice: L'étrange triptyque: Sacrifices au féminin dans trois romans francophones libanais. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 2003 May; 63 (11): 3961. U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2002.
- Mejcher-Atassi, Sonja. "Breaking the Silence: Etel Adnan's Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
and The Arab Apocalypse." IN: Poetry's Voice-Society's Norms: Forms of Interaction between Middle Eastern Writers and Their Societies. Ed. Andreas Pflitsch and Barbara Winckler. Wiesbaden, Germany: Reichert; 2006. pp. 201–10 - Mustafa, Daliya Sa'id (translator). "Al-Kitabah bi-lughah ajnabiyyah." Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, 2000; 20: 133-43 (Arabic section); 300-01 (English section).
- Muzaffar, May. "Iytil 'Adnan: Qarinat al-nur wa-al-ma'." Arabi, 2007 Feb; 579: 64-68.
- Obank, Margaret. "Private Syntheses and Multiple Identities." Banipal: Magazine of Modern Arab LiteratureBanipalBanipal is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three times a year...
, 1998 June; 2: 59-61. - Shoaib, Mahwash. "Surpassing Borders and 'Folded Maps': Etel Adnan's Location in There." Studies in the Humanities, 2003 June-Dec; 30 (1-2): 21-28.
- Willis, Mary-Angela. "Francophone Literature of the Middle East by Women: Breaking the Walls of Silence." IN: Francophone Post-Colonial Cultures: Critical Essays. Ed. Kamal Salhi. Lanham, MD: Lexington; 2003. pp. 64–74
- Willis, Mary-Angela. La Guerre démasquée à travers la voix féminine dans Sitt Marie RoseSitt Marie RoseSitt Marie Rose is a novel by Etel Adnan set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. It was published in France in 1978, following the publication of an Arabic translation in 1977. It is based on the life of Marie Rose Boulos who was executed by a Christian militia during the conflict...
d'Etel Adnan et Coquelicot du massacre d'Evelyne Accad. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 2002 Mar; 62 (9): 3061. U of Alabama, 2001.