Yusuf al-Khal

2025-10-11T22:12:01Z

2A02:8071:5AB0:4220:A40E:6321:E046:E400:

{{Short description|Lebanese-Syrian poet}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Yusuf al-Khal<br/>{{Nobold|{{lang|ar|يوسف الخال}}}}
| image = Yusuf al-Khal.jpg
| caption = Yusuf al-Khal
| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|12|25|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Amar al-Husn]], [[Homs Governorate]], Syria
| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|3|9|1917|12|25|mf=y}}
| death_place =
| occupation = Poet, writer
| language = [[Varieties of Arabic]]
| genre = [[Prose poetry]]
| movement = [[Avant-garde]]
| website = {{URL|yusufalkhal.com}}
}}

'''Yusuf al-Khal''' ({{langx|ar|يوسف الخال}}; December 25, 1917<ref name="Badawī">{{cite book|last1=Badawī|first1=Muḥammad|title=A Critical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry|date=March 1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521290234|page=241}}</ref> – March 9, 1987) was a Lebanese poet, journalist, and publisher of [[Syrians|Syrian]] ethnic origins. He is considered the greatest exponent of [[avant-garde|avantgardist]] [[prose poetry]] (''qaṣīdat al-natr'') as well one of the pioneers of Arabic [[Surrealism|surrealist]] poetry.

With fellow poets [[Adunis|Adonis]] and [[Ounsi el-Hajj]], al-Khal founded the magazine ''[[Shi'r]]'' ("Poetry") in [[Beirut]] in 1957, initiating a movement to modernize Arabic literature.<ref name="Britanica">{{cite web|last1=Allen|first1=Roger|title=Modern Arabic poetry|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yusuf-al-Khal|access-date=4 July 2017|website=britannica.com|publisher=Britanica}}</ref><ref name="Irwin">{{cite journal |surname=Irwin |given=Robert |authorlink=Robert Irwin (writer) |date=3 January 2005 |title=An Arab Surrealist |journal=[[The Nation]]
|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/arab-surrealist/tnamp/ |pages=23–38}}</ref> His poetry has also been recognized in Near East poetry collections. He published many volumes of avant-garde poetry and translated Whitman, Eliot, Frost, and others.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Atwan|first=Robert|title=Divine Inspiration: The Life of Jesus in World Poetry|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XmNIAxTIUkYC&q=yusuf+al+khal+lebanese&pg=PA253|page=253|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195093513}}</ref>

Al-Khal was the son of a Syrian Protestant minister originally from [[Wadi al-Nasara|Wadi Al Nasara]] who was [[Greek Orthodox]] and a [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] mother from [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]].<ref name=":0" /> He was raised in [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]], [[Lebanon]] and made his career largely in Lebanon.

Between 1944 and 1948 al-Khal taught at the [[American University of Beirut|American University in Beirut]], where he had previously studied under [[Charles Malik]] and did his bachelor's degree in philosophy and English literature. He established the Dar al-Kitab in [[Beirut]], and this house started its activities by publishing the magazine “Sawt a Woman”, which was edited by al-Khal, in addition to managing the house until 1948.

From 1948 to 1955 al-Khal lived in the US, where he worked for the [[United Nations]] as a journalist in the press and publishing department. He returned to Lebanon in 1955.

Al-Khal created the quarterly poetry magazine Shi'r that was published between 1957 and 1964. Then it resumed in the first of 1967. Its entire collection was reprinted in 11 volumes. In 1967, An-Nahar Publishing House was established, and he joined it as Editor-in-Chief. He established (1957–1959) a remarkable literary salon, the Salon of Poetry Magazine, known as the Salon of Thursday. The members of the salon included the poets Yusuf Al-Khal, Adonis, [[:ar:شوقي أبي شقرا|Shawqi Abi Chakra]] and [[:ar:فؤاد رفقة|Fouad Rebekah]].

== Personal life ==
Al-Khal married Lebanese-American painter [[Helen Khal]], daughter of Thomas Joseph and Salma Sassine Chaiboub, with whom he had sons Tarek and Jawad. He married for a second time to the Syrian artist [[Maha Bayrakdar]] in 1970. Maha was a well-known painter in Damascus and she worked for several years in Lebanese media. They had two children Yusuf and Ward, who later became popular TV stars in Lebanon.

== Selection of works ==

=== His own works ===

* ''Al-ḥurriyya'' ( ''Freedom'' ). 1944.
* ''Hīrūdia.'' Play. 1954.
* ''Al-biʾr al-mahǧūra (The dried up well).'' 1958.
* ''Qasāʾid fī l-arbaʿīn.'' 1960.
* ''Al-aʿmāl aš-šiʿriyya al-kāmila (1938–1968) (Poetic Complete Works).'' 1973.
* ''Rasāʾil ilā Dūn Kishūt (Letters to Don Quixote).'' 1979.
* ''Al-wilādat ath-thāniya (The rebirth).'' 1981.
* ''Al-hadātha fī š-šiʿr (The youth / novelty in the lyric).'' 1978.
* ''Dafātir al-ayyām (diaries).'' 1987.

=== Translations ===

* [[Kahlil Gibran|Khalil Gibran]] : ''The Prophet.'' 1968.
* [[T. S. Eliot|TS Eliot]] : ''The Destroyed Earth.'' 1958
* ''Anthology of American Poems.'' 1958.
* [[Carl Sandburg]] : ''Abraham Lincoln.'' 1959.
* [[Robert Frost]] : ''Selected Poems.'' 1962.
* ''The new Testament.'' 1958.

=== Yusuf al-Khal translated in German ===
Some of his poems have appeared in collections in German, as in

* Suleman Taufiq (ed.): Neue arabische Poesie ''[New Arabic Poetry].'' Munich 2004, {{ISBN|3-423-13262-0}}

== Featured works ==
* al-Khal, Yusuf. The Flag of Childhood: Poems from The Middle East. In: Naomi Shihab Nye (ed.) ''The Deserted Well'' . New York: Aladdin, 1998. p. 76.

== See also ==

* [[Syrian literature]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khal, Yusuf}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Lebanese poets]]
[[Category:Syrian emigrants to Lebanon]]
[[Category:Syrian magazine founders]]
[[Category:Greek Orthodox Christians from Syria]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the American University of Beirut]]

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Yusuf al-Khal