Foremost novelist Dammaj commemorated [Archives:2006/933/Local News]
A ceremony was held Monday, March 29, to mark the sixth anniversary of Zaid Mutee' Dammaj's death. The ceremony took place at the Yemen Writers Union in Sana'a in the presence of a large audience of writers, academics, and pressmen.
A number of addresses were delivered highlighting different aspects of late Dammaj's life and career. Among the speakers were Mohammed Al-Shaibani, Dr. Hatim Al-Sakr, Atef Awad, Dr. Hamdan Dammaj and Judge Lutf Al-Samawi.
Dr. Al-Sakr, an Iraqi professor at Sana'a University's Faculty of Mass Media, highlighted a relationship between Dammaj and James Joyce saying that Al-Raheena, Dammaj's masterpiece, could be used for drawing up a map of Taiz as that made of Dublin by means of Joyce's Ulysses. He also praised the techniques of the novel. He also elucidated the presence of multiplicity of interpretations of Al-Raheena.
On the other hand, Atif Awad, a Yemen-based Egyptian writer, pointed out that Al-Raheena's fame was at the expense of other praiseworthy works of Zaid Dammaj. Awad expounded on the distinctiveness of Dammaj's works that “best reflect Yemen with its different layers of constituents starting from the village, to the county, to the province and then the country as a whole. Dammaj is a writer humanistic to the marrow with art originating in Yemeni soil and providing a real delineation of the life and emotions of Yemenis, both males and females. He embodied the relationship of Yemeni literature with Yemen's issues and people.”
Later, Dr. Hamdan Zaid Dammaj, eldest son of the late writer, delivered a speech. “Six years have elapsed since Zaid left us, or, let's say, we left him,” he said, noting the profound awareness of the details of space and time prevalent in Dammaj's works. Being himself a poet and short story writer, Dr. Hamdan said that the reader of Zaid Mutee' Dammaj is faced with more and more discoveries.
However, Dr. Hamdan pointed out the unavailability of Zaid Mutee' Dammaj's works in the market. “I don't know why they, especially Al-Raheena, disappear a short time after they are on the market,” something that should attract the attention of culture-fostering organizations. He also announced that Al-Raheena is to be republished by Tunisia-based publisher (Al-Janoub House) soon. Many literary projects centered around Zaid Mutee' Dammaj's works are to be implemented in the short run, Dr. Hamdan revealed. Among them are a website featuring all of his literary works, critical studies thereabout, newly discovered stories, and social and political essays.
He quoted Syrian poet Sulaiman Al-'Eesa's lines addressed to a Moroccan researcher who came to Yemen to conduct a study on Dammaj's works:
Look for him in Sana'a windows, in every Yemeni whoop.
Zaid was faring in the black eyes, in poverty and brilliant secrets,
He was a fragrance of the Queen's perfume she left to my people as a gift to the creative.
Judge Lutf Al-Samawi shed light on the familial roots of Zaid Dammaj and the outstanding record of his kinsmen in terms of revolution and patronization of learning.
Zaid Muttee' Dammaj was born in Ibb – Yemen, in 1944. He is the son of the well-known revolutionist Sheik Muttee Dammaj. Zaid Mutee' Dammaj's most famous for his novel “The Hostage” (Al-Raheena). It is one of the most famous novels in Yemen. Since it was published in Arabic first time in 1984, it has gained a lot of attention by Arabic readers both inside and outside Yemen. It has been re-published several times and translated into English, French, German, and Hindi while Spanish and Russian translations are underway. In 1998, the novel was published in the UNESCO project “A book in a newspaper” (http://thaqafa.sakhr.com/ketab), while in 2000, it was chosen by the Egyptian Writers Union as one of the best 100 Arabic novels in the 20th century.
——
[archive-e:933-v:14-y:2006-d:2006-03-30-p:ln]
