Life of Ghadah Al-Samman and her Literary Works

Abstract

Ghadah Al-Samman is a Syrian novelist, journalist and writer born in Damascus in 1942. She is vaguely connected to poet Nizar Qabbani, and extremely inclined by him.Her father was affectionate of both Arabic and Western literature, this inclined her deeply and gave her a distinctive style that unites qualities of both. She published “Your Eyes Are My Destiny” first collection of short stories in 1962. However, at the time she was bumped in with other established feminine writers. Her later books took her out of this situation of feminine and love novels into social feminist and philosophical area. In 1965 she published her second collection of stories “No Sea in Beirut” which demonstrate the result of her new and broad experiences. She traveled in the region of Europe working as a journalist and published her third collection “Foreigners’ Nights” in 1966. In 1973 she published her fourth collection, The Departure of Old Ports, measured by some critics to be one of her most significant works. In this collection of short stories, she described the problem of the Arab scholar and the difference between their thought and proceedings. She published her first novel, Beirut 75, at the end of 1974. The novel focuses the compound social issues in Beirut. After the publication of Beirut Nightmares in 1977 and The Eve of Billion in 1986, some reviewers began referring to her as the most famous modern Arab writer.