Book contents
- The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous
- Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre
- The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transliteration and Translation
- Chronology of Wannous’ Life, Plays, and Selected Writings
- Introduction
- Part I Situating Wannous
- Part II Reading Wannous
- Part III Staging Wannous
- Part IV Remembering Wannous
- 9 Unpacking Wannous’ Library
- 10 A Student of Theatre in Paris
- 11 Grammar of Life and Death
- 12 Be What You Want to Be
- List of Wannous’ Plays
- Summaries of Wannous’ Principal Plays
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - Unpacking Wannous’ Library
from Part IV - Remembering Wannous
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 May 2021
- The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous
- Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre
- The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transliteration and Translation
- Chronology of Wannous’ Life, Plays, and Selected Writings
- Introduction
- Part I Situating Wannous
- Part II Reading Wannous
- Part III Staging Wannous
- Part IV Remembering Wannous
- 9 Unpacking Wannous’ Library
- 10 A Student of Theatre in Paris
- 11 Grammar of Life and Death
- 12 Be What You Want to Be
- List of Wannous’ Plays
- Summaries of Wannous’ Principal Plays
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The private library of the Syrian playwright and public intellectual Saʿdallah Wannous arrived at the American University of Beirut in 2015. This chapter sets out to read Wannous through his library. After presenting a brief overview of the books in Wannous’ library, their subject matter, and their provenance, it examines personal book inscriptions, which unravel a rich intellectual network and provide insight into Wannous’ trajectory and recognition as a playwright and public intellectual. It then explores the conditions under which Wannous’ library came into existence and flourished in a Syria marked by the Baʿth party and the Assad regime’s authoritarian control of the political and cultural fields, under which it migrated from Damascus to Beirut in the wake of the 2011 Syrian revolution-turned-war. Wannous’ library, the chapter argues, opened an Arabic and world literary space, both physical and metaphorical, from which Wannous emerged as a modern Arabic and world-renowned playwright.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Theatre of Sa'dallah WannousA Critical Study of the Syrian Playwright and Public Intellectual, pp. 165 - 185Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021