YARED, Nazik Saba 1928-

PERSONAL: Born April 11, 1928, in Jerusalem, Palestine (now Israel); daughter of Alexander and Hala (Maalouf) Saba; married Ibrahim Yared, 1949; children: Khaled, Maya, Wael. Education: Fouad I University, Licence, 1948; American University of Beirut, M.A., 1967, Ph.D., 1976. Religion: Anglican. Hobbies and other interests: Music, reading, tennis.

ADDRESSES: Office—c/o Lebanese American University, P.O. Box 13-5053, Beirut, Lebanon. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER: French Protestant College, Beirut, Lebanon, teacher of Arabic literature, 1950-78; Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon, assistant professor of Arabic literature, 1978-98; retired, 1998. Baalbeck International Festival, member, 1970—; member of committee for the defense of battered women, 1992—, and Lebanese women researchers' committee, 1994—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Chevalier, Ordre des Palmes Academiques, 1977; award from University of Arkansas Press, 1997, for Improvisations on a Missing String.

WRITINGS:

Anthology and Study of Ibn ar-Rumi's Satirical Poetry, Dar al-Saqi (London, England), 1988.

Arab Travellers and the West (in Lebanese), Naufal (Beirut, Lebanon), 1991, English translation, Dar al-Saqi (London, England), 1996.

Taqasim ala Watarin Da'ia (novel), Naufal (Beirut, Lebanon), 1992, translation by Stuart Hancox published as Improvisations on a Missing String, University of Arkansas Press (Fayetteville, AR), 1997.

A Complete Bibliography of Lebanese Women Writers from 1850 to 1950, Saqi Books (London, England), 2001.

Secularism and the Arab World: 1850-1939, Saqi Books (London, England), 2002.

untranslated works

Elias Abu-Shabuki (literary criticism), Beit al-Hikma (Beirut, Lebanon), 1969.

Ibn ar-Rumi (literary criticism), Beit al-Hikma (Beirut, Lebanon), 1980.

Ahmad Shauqi (literary criticism), Beit al-Hikma (Beirut, Lebanon), 1981.

Hammad Ajrad (literary criticism), Dar al-Fikr al-Lubnani (Beirut, Lebanon), 1983.

Nuqtat ad-Da'ira (novel), Dar al-Fikr al-Lubnani (Beirut, Lebanon), 1983.

Assada al-Makhnuq (novel), Naufal (Beirut, Lebanon), 1986.

Kana al-Amsu Ghadan (novel), Naufal (Beirut, Lebanon), 1988.

In the Wake of Abu Nuwas (literary criticism), Naufal (Beirut, Lebanon), 1992.

Fi Dhill al-Qal'a (novel), Dar al-Kitab al-Alami (Beirut, Lebanon), 1996.

Al-Dhikrayat al-Mulghat (novel), Naufal (Beirut, Lebanon), 1998.

Ba'idan 'an Dhill al-Qal'a (novel), Dar al-Kitab al-Alami (Beirut, Lebanon), 1998.

(With Nuhá Bayyumi) Al-Katib 'at al-Lubnaniyat: biblioghrafiya, 1850-1950, Saqi (Beirut, Lebanon), 2000.

Ayam Beirut (novel), Dar al-Kitab al-Alami (Beirut, Lebanon), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A text on the life and reproductions of the Lebanese artist Mohammad Rawwas, for Saqi Books (London, England), publication expected in 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Nazik Saba Yared once told CA: "I write because writing is my raison d'etre. It is what gives me real pleasure and makes me feel that life is worth living.

"My love for Arabic literature and for teaching it to my students has inspired me to write my books on literary criticism, in which I analyze the works of several of our great Arabic poets and writers. On the other hand, the social and/or existential problems that I face (or see others face) have been the inspiration for my novels. These are influenced by what I see around me and feel as a result.

"It is the process of writing that gives me pleasure: searching for the exact word that would express what I want; constructing and reconstructing a sentence or paragraph until I feel it is right; discarding some of what I had written while adding things I had not thought of before; rearranging parts or whole chapters. In short, I sometimes feel that the novel is writing itself more than I am writing it."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Choice, July-August, 1998, W. L. Hanaway, review of Improvisations on a Missing String, p. 1849; May, 2003, C. E. Butterworth, review of Secularism and the Arab World: 1850-1939, p. 1624.

European History Quarterly, July, 2000, John M. Mackenzie, review of Arab Travellers and Western Civilization, p. 443.

International Journal of Middle East Studies, May, 1998, Susan Gilson Miller, review of Arab Travellers and Western Civilization, p. 317.

Middle East, October, 2002, Fred Rhodes, review of Secularism and the Arab World, p. 64.

World Literature Today, summer, 1998, Issa Peters, review of Improvisations on a Missing String, p. 679.