By Lina Mahmoud AN ICON REMEMBERED: Last week the Supreme Council of Culture celebrated the 100th anniversary of writer Yehya Haqqi, reports Lina Mahmoud, a central figure in 20th-century Arabic literature. An innovative novelist and short story writer, Haqqi had an encyclopaedic intellect, and his contribution to Arab culture, whether in the form of fiction, non-fiction or editorial and public activity, was remarkably varied. He was instrumental to the revival and establishment of a range of cultural ventures from shadow puppet theatre to the Cairo Symphony Orchestra; and the testimonies of writers made throughout the week demonstrate, no writer since the 1950s has fully escaped his influence. Sedately constructed and firmly rooted in the classic tongue, his Arabic evoked the cadences of the vernacular without giving up Qur'anic eloquence; and his novels, the best known of which is Qandil Um Hashim (The Lantern of Um Hashim, 1943), broached some of the most pressing, and thus far least discussed, social issues. He was a master of both character and plot, and his books invariably make for compelling reading. Born in Cairo in 1905, to parents of Turkish and Albanian descent, Haqqi grew up in the then middle-class neighbourhood of Sayeda Zeinab -- the grassroots atmosphere of which informed his sense of belonging to Egypt, but, more importantly for the future of Arabic literature, it was his childhood obsession with reading that fuelled his growing love of the language and its arts. Pursuing the educational course best suited to a young man of his class, Haqqi graduated from law school in 1927 and worked briefly in Manfalout, Upper Egypt, as an assistant attorney. Only two years later he had joined the diplomatic corps, however, thereby embarking on a career that was to satisfy his wanderlust: posted in Jeddah, he was to spend time in Ankara, Paris and Rome. Later in life he was to assume some of the most prestigious posts in the establishment. He was, among other titles, head of the Arts Department, a division of the Ministry of Culture established in the wake of the 1952 Revolution, and literary adviser to the General Egyptian Book Organisation. Administrative and editorial work preoccupied him from 1954 to 1959, after which he resigned to devote himself to writing. Haqqi himself identifies his stint as the editor of Al-Majalla, the prominent literary monthly that appeared from 1962 to 1970, and, in the writer's hands, an effective vehicle for introducing young talent -- a role at which he excelled, backing voices that others quickly dismissed. "You fail to see through what you have," critic Gaber Asfour recalls him saying. "A work may not be perfect, yet it may still exhibit talent." Haqqi's best known works, some of which found their way onto the silver screen, include Um Al-Awagiz (Mother of the Helpless), Dimaa wa Teen (Blood and Mud), Antar wa Juliet (Antar and Juliet), Sahel- Nom (Wake up), Ihtigag (Protest), Al-Firash Al-Shaghir (The Empty Bed) and Al-Bostagy (The Postman). He also wrote extensively on cinema, theatre and culture, and his Asheq Al-Kalima (Word Lover) reflects the depth and breadth of his philological interests. Haqqi produced an engaging and endearing autobiographical trilogy, of which Khalliha ala Allah (Leave it to God), the first volume is an account of his university years; the next two volumes, Shop Wastes and Trust in God deal, respectively, with his childhood and his career.
