Poet of the People and the Land

“The pole lost its guiding star--but my distant home still awaits me” -- Saadi Youssef

Saadi Youssef is an internationally celebrated Iraqi poet who has endured nearly forty years of exile from his culture and homeland because of his outspoken political commitment. Never losing touch with his roots, he has published more than thirty collections of poems, a volume of short stories, two novels, and four volumes of his collected works. He has received several literary awards, including the 2003 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation.

Born in 1934, Youssef was raised by his grandfather in the rural village of Abul-Khasib near Basra, Iraq (see map). Like so many great poets and writers, he read avidly as a child. He wrote his first poem at the age of 17 and went on to study Arabic literature at Teacher’s College at Baghdad University, where he earned his degree in 1954.

During his college years, he discovered the poets of the Taf'ila (free verse) Movement of 1948-- poets like Badr Shakhir al Sayyab-- who would be a major influence on his work. Taf’ila was a dramatic change from the rigid formality of traditional Arabic verse. Pioneered ub tge sane year that the foreign state or Isreal was established on Arab soil, it “marked a transformation in poetry's spirit and intellectual import” (Al-Wardani). Mixing “hope with memory,” it gave poetry a strong position in the progressive revolutionary movement (Al-Wardani, Boullata).

At the university, Youssef also became acquainted with the anti-imperialist movement, which at the time convened as the communist and socialist parties (Fabbender). During the ’50s and ’60s, he wrote political poetry, earning himself a reputation as a “people’s poet” in the tradition of the Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish.

Youssef published his first volume of poetry in 1952. His fourth and now-renowned collection, 51 poems, was published in 1958 following the overthrow of the monarchy.

A Life of Forced Departures
In the all the years since college, Youssef spent only a brief period working in his own country, as Minister of Culture from 1971-1978. Forced by his political leanings into persecution and exile, the rest of his adult life has been what he calls “a life of forced departures.” It began in 1957 when, sympathizing with the socialists, Youssef attended a youth conference in Moscow, after which he was forced to settle in Kuwait until the Iraqi revolution in 1958.

In 1969, he took part in the Palestinian revolution in Beirut, joining the ranks of Lebanese resistance during the Civil War. He was imprisoned in 1974 at Nagrat al-Salman for his political poetry. When released, he moved to the newly independent Algeria, where he worked as a high school teacher and literary journalist. He was forced to leave Iraq for good in 1978 when Saddam Hussein assumed absolute power. Like the majority of Iraqi writers, educators and intellectuals, Youssef resisted pressure to join the Ba’ath party, choosing exile instead.

He wrote poems supporting the Palestinians in 1982, forcing him to remove to Yemen, which he then fled in 1986. Living between Amman and Damascus during the 1990s, he edited the journal Al-Madaa. In France during 1991, he helped the Gulf War Iraqi expatriates and exiles. He has also lived in Syria, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Cyprus, Beirut, Cairo, France and Jordan. After a lifetime of wandering, Youssef has finally settled in London.

Poet in Exile
“ Much of the earnest consideration of Iraq’s modern history has been conducted by politically-committed Iraqi intellectuals living in exile” (Mamoud). Youssef’s name is likely to come up in any contemporary discourse about the exiled intellectuals of Iraq, where he has remained in the forefront of the discussion about the future of the Iraqi people, through poetry, essays and thoughtful political action. He signed a letter to Yasir Arafat in 1996 protesting Palestinian censorship of books by cultural critic, Edward Said (“Censored in Palestine”).

During his years of exile, he taught himself French and English, and has gained a reputation as a fine translator. He has translated the works of major international poets from English into Arabic, including Walt Whitman and Federico Garcia Lorca, as well as novelists like George Orwell and David Malouf. Today in London, he is a contributing editor to the monthly journal, Banipal.

In the ’70s, Youssef stopped writing political verse and began to develop the style that has made him one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Arabic poetry. He refers to his style as al-Qasida al-Mutaqashshifa, “the ascetic poem” (Huri). Critics describe it as “austerely minimalist,” “deceptively simple,” and “stunningly authentic,” and “warmly human” (Huri, Ghazoul). They credit Youssef with “revolutioniz[ing] contemporary poetry in Arabic through his tender attention to the details of everyday life and his rhythms which are close to everyday speech” (Maguire).

Youssef writes, “In poetry, we must not allow ourselves to fall victim to politics the way we do in everyday life. The destruction caused by the mindless politicization of everything must not extend to art, for art is our last refuge.” (“Blessed Be the Quest” 1998). He addresses the poet’s role in several of his poems.

He is building boats out of the ribs of speech
unfolding sails out of the scent of lemons
and bringing nearer cities that were ravaged by plagues
and raiders, and brothers, and history...

Pleased with the recent deposition of Saddam Hussein, Youssef wrote in 2003, “This imbecile has denied me the air of my country for more than 30 years.” (“Early Letter to General Tommy Franks”). He mourns in poetry for the war-torn state of his country,

Soldiers armed to the teeth will storm us;
Minarets and houses will crumble;
Palm trees will collapse under the bombing.
      (“A Personal Song” 2003)

Currently Youssef is still not allowed to return to his homeland, nor can he come to the United States. Scheduled to speak at Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts in 2003, Youssef was unable to procure a visa to enter the United States.

Works Consulted

Al-Wardani, Mahmoud. “At a Glance: A Shorthand Guide to Iraqi Books.” Al-Ahram Weekly Online 634 (April 17, 2003). <http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/634/bsc20.htm>

Booth, Marilyn. “Loin de Premier Ciel: Book Review.” World Literature Today 74.4 (2000): 904.

Boullata, Issa J. “Badr Shakir al-Sayyab and the Free Verse Movement.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 1.3 (1970): 248-258. <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0020-7438%28197007%291%3A3%3C248%3ABSAATF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0>

Fabbender, Beatrice, Ed. “Saadi Youssef.” International Literature Festival. Berlin, 2003. <http://www.literaturfestival.com/bios1_3_6_291.html>

Ghazoul, Ferial. “Spiral of Iraqi Memory.” Al-Ahram Weekly Online 634 (April 17, 2003). <http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/634/bsc17.htm>

Huri, Yair. “’Perhaps I Disappointed You’: On a “Meta-poetic Poem by Sa’adi Youssef.” EJOS. Universiteit Utrecht. Utrecht, Netherlands, 2002. <http://www2.let.uu.nl/Solis/anpt/ejos/pdf5/Yairdef.pdf>

Maguire, Sarah. “Ravages of War” Al-Ahram Weekly Online 630 (May 2003). <http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/630/bo1.htm>

Mamoud, Saeed. “Legacy of Ruins: Iraqi Letters and Intellectuals under Saddam's Regime.” Al Jadid: Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts. Al Jadid. Los Angeles, 2003. <http://www.aljadid.com/features/0942saeed.html>

Youssef, Saadi. “An Early Letter to General Tommy Franks” Al-Ahram Weekly Online 628 (March 2003). <http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/628/sc9.htm>

----. “Blessed be the Quest.” Al-Ahram Weekly Online 376 (May 1998). <http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1998/376/cu5.htm>

----- et al. “Censored In Palestine” New York Review of Books. Ed. Robert Silvers et al. New York, 1996. <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1393>