Yahya Haqqi (Arabic: يحيى حقي ) (7 January 1905-9 December 1992) (or Yehia Hakki, Yehia
Haqqi) was an Egyptian writer and novelist. Born to a
middle-class family in Cairo, he was trained as a lawyer at the Cairo School of Law, graduating in 1925. Like many other Egyptian
writers, such as Naguib Mahfouz and Yusuf Idris, he spent most of his life as a civil servant, supplementing his literary income; he
eventually rose to become adviser to the National Library of Egypt.
In his literary career, he published four collections of short
stories, one novel (Umm Hashem's Lamp), and many articles and other
short stories besides. He was editor of the literary magazine Al-Majalla from 1961 to 1971, when that publication
was banned in Egypt. He has experimented with the various literary norms:
the short story, the novel, literary criticism, essays, meditations, andliterary translation.[1]
Early life and family
Haqqi was born on January 7, 1905 in the Cairo neighborhood
of Zainab to
a middle-class Turkish Muslim family. His ancestors had emigrated
from Turkey to Greece, and one of the sons
of that family, Ibrahim Haqqi (d. 1890), Yahya's grandfather, moved to Egypt in
the early nineteenth century. Ibrahim Haqqi worked in Damietta for a period of time, and had three sons: Muhammad Ibrahim
(Yahya's father), Mahmoud Taher, and Kamal. Muhammad Ibrahim's wife, Yahya's
mother, was also of Turkish origin. Both of his parents enjoyed literature.
Yahya Haqqi was the third son of six, and had two sisters. His oldest brother
was Ibrahim, followed by Ishmael. His younger siblings, in birth order, were
Zachariah, Musa, Fatima, Hamza, and Miriam. Hamza and Miriam both died when
they were only months old.
He graduated from the Faculty of Law and practiced as a lawyer
in Alexandria. In 1929 he joined the diplomatic corps and
served in Jeddah, Rome, Paris, and Ankara. In 1952 he was
appointed ambassador to Libya. In 1953 he was
appointed Director of the Arts Department and then a Literary Advisor to
the Egyptian Generd Book Organization in 1958. In 1959, he resigned his post
and became editor of one of a Cairo-based magazine. In
1970, he was appointed Member of the Supreme Council for Radio and Television.
Literary career[
In his literary career, he published four collections of short
stories, one novel, ("Good Morning", translated from Arabic by Miriam
Cooke), a novella (Umm Hashem's Lamp, twice translated from Arabic, by
M.M.Badawi and Denys Johnson-Davies), and many articles some of which involved
literary criticism of writers works, and other short stories besides. Sabri
Hafez regards Haqqi as a pioneer in the writing of short stories, and
experimenter in both form and style.[2] Most literary critics commend Haqqi's style of writing and
his language precision. He was editor of the literary magazine Al-Majalla from 1961 to 1971; this was a dangerous
position, as the publication had been banned in Egypt by order of the
government of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
During that period and even before Haqqi championed budding Egyptian authors
whose works he admired and believed in. In the 1960s also Haqqi took the very
courageous step of retiring from writing short stories and novels, but he
continued to write articles that critics described as artistic sketches.
Work
His work at the Book Organization offered him an opportunity to
read a lot. He is considered the father of short story and novel in Egypt. His
first short story appeared in 1925, and he established himself as one of the
greatest pioneers of contemporary short story writing in the Arab world. His short stories convey attempts to express a certain
philosophy on life, a certain stand or viewpoint and advocate human will which
he considered the fountain-spring of all virtues. He believes that language is
not merely a tool of expression or of conveying ideas but rather an integral
part of the writing process in all literary norms. His study of law has had its
impact on his writings which are characterized by objectivity. Haqqi also
translated world famous literary works such as "The Chess Player"
aka The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig, Baltagul (The Hatchet) by Mihail Sadoveanu, and "The Prodigal
Father" by Edith Saunders, he also participated in translating the
famous Russian Doctor
Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.
Awards
·
Haqqi was awarded the Recognition Award in 1967.
·
In 1968, he won first prize for his novel "The
Postman" in which he portrays means of inculcating Egyptian values and
principles.
