Issam Abdel-Masih Mahfouz was a Lebanese playwright, poet, journalist, author, translator, and critic.
20 Facts About Issam Mahfouz
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Issam Mahfouz called for the themes of theatrical pieces to be international rather than local.
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Issam Mahfouz's own plays met immediate critical and popular success, and inaugurated a new era of theatrical production in the Arab world.
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Issam Mahfouz was born on September 12,1939, in the southern Lebanese town of Jdeideh Marjeyoun, to a culturally active Christian family.
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Issam Mahfouz's mother, Monifa Shadid, was a schoolteacher before marriage.
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Issam Mahfouz spent most of his childhood in his hometown, Marjayoun.
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Issam Mahfouz's childhood was affected by the death of close family members, including his mother at the age of two.
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Issam Mahfouz showed an early inclination for theater by writing and producing plays in the attic of the family home, using accessories from the Haramoun Cinema and Theater.
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In 1957 Issam Mahfouz moved to Beirut to continue his education and fulfill his ambitions.
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Issam Mahfouz's poems were written in the modern free verse that was being introduced into the Arabic literary scene at the time.
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Issam Mahfouz turned his hand to playwriting as he saw it as an effective medium of communication with audiences.
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Issam Mahfouz served on the jury of a number of festivals, including al-Hamamet in Tunis in 1973.
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Issam Mahfouz wrote for several publications beginning in 1959, but he is best known for his work at al-Nahar where he wrote for the cultural section from 1966 to 1996.
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Issam Mahfouz was introduced to Western intellectual and cultural circles in Paris whose personalities he interviewed for his paper.
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Issam Mahfouz wrote several books critical of the West, including "An Arab Critic in Paris" 1980, for which he was labeled an 'Occidentalist'.
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Issam Mahfouz wrote theater criticism of which the most prominent include "Theater is the Future of Arabic" 1991, and "Playwright and Theater" 1995.
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Issam Mahfouz wrote a number of imaginary dialogues with prominent historical figures including Ibn Arabi, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Khaldun, Jabr ibn Hayyan, Abul 'Ala Al-Ma'arri, Abd al-Rahman Al Kawakibi, Mohammed ibn Zakariya al-Razi, and Ahmad Faris Shidyaq which were published in book form.
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In June 2005 Issam Mahfouz was admitted to the hospital after a cerebral stroke.
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Issam Mahfouz was partially paralyzed, but insisted on using his left hand to complete four books: al-A'mal al-Masrahiyah, Tab'a Munaqah wa Mazid ; Asatithatuna Fi al-Qarn al-'Ishrin ; al-A'mal al-Shi'riyah, Dar al-Farabi, 2016; Rihla Thaqafiyah fi Sab'inat al-Qarn al-'ishrin Bayn al-Sharq wa-al-Maghrib, Dar al-Bayrouni, 2006.
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Issam Mahfouz died on 3 February 2006 and was buried in his hometown, Marjayoun.