Qusay al-Shaykh Askar
- novelist
- poet
- literary scholar
Qusay Abd al-Ra'uf Askar, commonly known as Qusay al-Shaykh Askar (Arabic: قصي الشيخ عسكر, romanized: Quṣayy al-Shaykh ʻAskar;1951) is an Iraqi-Danish novelist, poet and literary scholar. His first poetry collection was published in 1983 and his first novel in 1985, since then he has created many fictional works.[1][2][3][4]
Biography
Qusay Abd al-Ra'uf Askar was born in village of Nahr Jasim, Shatt Al-Arab District, east of Basra, Kingdom of Iraq in 1951.[5] His family name derived from his grandfather first name, Askar, plus a title of honor, Sheikh, since he was the first imam of the Iraqi army at the beginning of its establishment in the 1920.[5] He studied primary school in Shatt al-Arab and secondary school in al-Ashar, Basra. He received a BA in Arabic literature from Basra University, Department of Arabic Language, 1973–1984, and a MA in Arabic literature from Damascus University, 1984. Then he obtained PhD from the Islamic College, London, in 2004.[5][6]
He taught in the secondary schools of Iraq, Morocco and Libya. Worked as a reporter for Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, then emigrated to Denmark from Ba'athist Iraq. He worked as a broadcaster and program presenter for the Danish television, the Arabic section.[6] He taught English at Cambridge Institute in Copenhagen for five years, and Danish language in schools of Denmark for three years.[6] He held Iraqi citizenship then became a naturalized citizen of Denmark,[2] and settled in Hellerup, then moved to Nottingham, United Kingdom, late 2000s.[5] In Denmark, Al-Shaykh Askar founded the Arab Writers Union of Scandinavia and was chosen to head the union.[6]
Fiction
Iraqi academic and literary critic, Najm Kazim [ar], in March 2017 published a list of the 100 best Iraqi novels of the twentieth century based on his “personal perception as a result of his long work in the field of literary criticism.” He placed three novels of Al-Shaykh Askar among them.[7] Al-Shaykh Askar once stated that "In fact, what interests me without hesitation is Russian realism. Then I refrained from it and moved on to romanticism."[8]
Works
Novels:
- Arabic: المعبر, romanized: al-Maʻbar, 1985
- Arabic: سيرة رجل في التحولات الأولى, romanized: Sirat rajul fı̄ al-taḥawwulāt al-ūlá, 1986
- Arabic: المكتب, romanized: al-Maktab, 1989
- Arabic: شيء ما في المستنقع, romanized: Shayʼ mā fī al-mustanqaʻ, 1991
- Arabic: للحمار ذيل واحد لاذيلان, romanized: Lil-ḥimār dhayl wāḥid lā dhaylān, 1992
- Arabic: الشمس تقتحم مدينة الثلوج, romanized: al-Shams taqtaḥimu madīnat al-thulūj, 1993
- Arabic: المختار, romanized: al-Mukhtar, 1993
- Arabic: امرأة بستة أزواج - شهريار يهاجر للصمت المباح, romanized: Imra'ah bi-sittat azwāj ;Shahryār yuhājir lil-ṣamt al-mubāḥ, 1995
- Arabic: التجربه؛ النفق؛ الموتى يزحفون, romanized: al-Tajribah ;al-Nafaq ;al-Mawtá yazḥafūn, 1995
- Arabic: آخر رحلة للسندباد وروايات أخرى, romanized: Ākhir riḥlah lil-Sindabād wa-riwāyāt ukhrá, 1995
- Arabic: نهر جاسم, romanized: Nahr Jāsim, 2004
- Arabic: روايات وقصص من الخيال العلمي, romanized: riwāyāt wa-qiṣaṣ min al-khayāl al-ʻilmī, 2010
- Arabic: وأقبل الخريف مبكراً هذا العام, romanized: Wa-aqbala al-kharīf mubakkiran hadhā al-ʻām, 2011
- Arabic: من تنومتي يطلع القمر, romanized: Min tannūmati yaṭlaʻu al-qamar, 2013
- Arabic: المقصف الملكي, romanized: al-Maqṣaf al-malakī, 2013
- Arabic: الحبل والنار التي تسري, romanized: al-Ḥabl wa-al-nār allatī tasari, 2013
- Arabic: الثامنة والنصف مساءً, romanized: al-Thāminah wa-al-niṣf masāʼan, 2014
- Arabic: رسالة, romanized: Risalah, 2016
- Arabic: الرباط, romanized: al-Rabāṭ, 2017
- Arabic: قصة عائلة, romanized: Qiṣṣat ʻāʼilah, 2018
- Arabic: ربيع التنومة, romanized: Rabīʻ al-Tannūmah, 2019
- Arabic: زيزفون البحر, romanized: Zayzafūn al-baḥr, 2019
- Arabic: علاء الدين, romanized: ʻAlāʼ al-Dīn, 2020
- Arabic: أنا والشبيه, romanized: Anā wa-al-shabīh, 2021
- Arabic: كورونا, romanized: Kūrūnā, 2021
- Arabic: النهر يلقي إليك بحجر, romanized: al-Nahr yulqī ilayka bi-ḥajar, 2021
Poetry collection:
- Arabic: رؤية, romanized: Ruʼyah, 1983
- Arabic: صيف العطور الخرساء, romanized: Ṣayf al-ʻuṭūr al-kharsāʼ, 1985
- Arabic: عبير المرايا, romanized: ʻAbı̄r al-marāyā, 1985
- Arabic: رحلة الشمس والقمر, romanized: Riḥlat al-shams wa-al-qamar, 2002
- Arabic: الديوان الرشيق, romanized: al-Dīwān al-rashīq, 2019
Other genres:
Literary studies:
- Arabic: البلاغة في تعاريف القدماء, romanized: Al-balāghah fī taʻārīf al-qudamāʼ, 1988
- Arabic: الحسن بن وهب، حياته، مقالاته، رسائله، شعره, lit. 'al-Ḥasan ibn Wahb : ḥayātuhu, maqālātuhu, rasāʼiluhu, shiʻruh', 1988
- Arabic: النجاشي، شاعر صفين, romanized: al-Najāshī : shāʻir ṣaffayn, 1988
- Arabic: قيم جمالية في نهج البلاغة, 1988
- Arabic: مفاهيم اقتصادية في نهج البلاغة, 1988
- Arabic: التشبيه والاستعارة في نهج البلاغة, 1988
- Arabic: الأسلوب القصصي في نهج البلاغة, 1988
- Arabic: الاغتراب في نهج البلاغة, 1989
- Arabic: الأساطير العربية قبل الإسلام وعلاقتها بالديانات القديمة, romanized: Asāṭīr al-ʻArabīyah qabla al-Islām wa-ʻalāqatuhā bi-al-diyānāt al-qadīmah, 2007
- Arabic: معجم الأساطير والحكايات الخرافية الجاهلية, romanized: Muʻjam al-asāṭīr wa-al-ḥikāyāt al-khurāfīyah al-Jāhilīyah, 2014
References
- ^ Yaʻqub, Imil (2004). Muʻjam al-shuʻarāʼ : mundhu badʼ ʻaṣr al-Nahḍah معجم الشعراء منذ بدء عصر النهضة [Dictionary of poets since the beginning of Nahda] (in Arabic). Vol. 2 (first ed.). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Sader. p. 927.
- ^ a b Al-Jaburi, Kamel Salman (2003). Mu'jam Al-Shu'ara' min Al-'Asr Al-Jahili Hatta Sanat 2002 معجم الشعراء من العصر الجاهلي حتى سنة 2002 [Dictionary of poets from the pre-Islamic era until 2002] (in Arabic). Vol. 4 (first ed.). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah. p. 202.
- ^ Al-Jaburi, Kamel Salman (2003). Mu'jam Al-Udaba' min Al-'Asr Al-Jahili Hatta Sanat 2002 معجم الأدباء من العصر الجاهلي حتى سنة 2002 [Dictionary of poets from the pre-Islamic era until 2002] (in Arabic). Vol. 4 (first ed.). Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Al-Kotob Al-Ilmiyah. p. 492.
- ^ Lexicographers of al-Babatin dictionary (1995). Muʻjam al-Bābaṭīn lil-shuʻarāʾ al-ʻArab al-muʻāṣirīn معجم البابطين للشعراء العرب المعاصرين (in Arabic). Vol. 2 (first ed.). Kuwait: Muʾassasat Jāʾizat ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz Saʻūd al-Bābaṭīn lil-Ibdāʻ al-Shiʻrī. p. 22. Archived from the original on 2022-09-07.
- ^ a b c d "الإعلامي و الرّوائي العراقي المغترب قُصَيْ الشّيخ عسكر لـ : "التحرير": لابد من اتفاق عالمي لتجفيف منابع الإرهاب و تطهير البلاد العربية من المتطرفين". altahrironline (in Arabic). 21 August 2016. Archived from the original on 7 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- ^ a b c d "المبدع الكبير د. قصي الشيخ عسكر .. سيرة حافلة بالعطاء (ملف/1)". alnaked-aliraqi (in Arabic). 22 March 2020. Archived from the original on 7 September 2022.
- ^ "نجم كاظم .. يرصد "أفضل مئة رواية عراقية في القرن العشرين"". kitabat.com/ (in Arabic). 11 March 2017. Archived from the original on 7 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- ^ "أفكار روائية في لقاء مع قصي الشيخ عسكر". qabaqaosayn (in Arabic). 30 October 2016. Archived from the original on 7 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.