12 Facts About Ali Douagi

Ali Douagi or Ali ed-Du'aji was a Tunisian literary and cultural icon who is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern Tunisian literature.

Ali Douagi is best remembered as "the father of the modern Tunisian short story".

Ali Douagi's father, el-Hajj Muhammad ed-Du'aji who was a wealthy merchant and landowner, died when Douagi was four years old; he bequeathed to his wife and children a sizeable trust fund from which the family was able to live comfortably.

Ali Douagi received his primary education in a neighbourhood school where he learned both French and Arabic.

Ali Douagi's mother encouraged him to pursue a career in business, and for a brief period he worked as an apprentice for a local successful merchant.

However, Ali Douagi decided to embark upon a project to educate himself by reading French literature and culture.

Nonetheless, Ali Douagi came to be associated with a group of artists and intellectuals, known as the "Jma'a teht es-sur", who congregated nightly in the cafes of the Bab Souika neighbourhood of the old madina in Tunisia to exchange ideas and argue politics.

Ali Douagi was experimental and especially known for his versatility as a sketch artist, songwriter, playwright, and short story writer.

Ali Douagi often depicted and fantasised romanticised strokes of eastern-western encounters.

Ali Douagi's most lasting contribution to Tunisian literature, as well as pan-Arabic literature, are his short stories that were collated and published in 1969, twenty years after his death, into a single anthology entitled "Shirtu minhu el-lyeli".

Al-Sanusi reported that Ali Douagi had written in his 163 radio sketches, and that his heirs discovered 60 more among his affects.

Ali Douagi wrote 15 plays and composed nearly 500 songs and poems.