9 - Unpacking Wannous’ Library

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.