Maghut, Muhammad al-

▪ 2007

      Syrian poet and playwright (b. 1934, Salamiyah, Syria—d. April 3, 2006, Damascus, Syria), was considered to be one of the greatest and most original writers of modern Arabic literature and was known for the darkly comic and satiric nature of his writing. Maghut was imprisoned for nine months in 1955 because he was a member of the opposition Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and it was in prison that he began writing his unique form of prose poetry. His first volume, Huzn fi dawʾ al-qamar (“Sorrow in the Moonlight”), appeared in 1959. Other volumes followed, including Ghurfah bi-malayin al-jidran (1964; “A Room with Millions of Walls”) and Al-Farah laysa mihnati (1970; Joy Is Not My Profession, 1994). Among his popular plays were Daiʾat Tishrin (performed 1973; “The Village”), Ghorba (performed 1975; “Alienation”), and Al-ʿUsfur al-ahdab (1967; “The Hunchbacked Bird”). A book of essays, Sa-akhuna watani (“I Will Betray My Homeland”), appeared in 1987. Maghut's many awards included the Syrian Order of Merit and the Poetry Prize of the Sultan Ibn Ali al-Oweis Culture Foundation in Dubai, U.A.E., both in 2005.

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