Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography

Qindīl Umm Hāšim, ‘The Lamp of Umm Hāšim’, is the title of Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī’s collection of short stories, first published in 1944, that made the author famous. Its enormous success can be traced back to the novella of the same title that opens the collection. The novella, due to its themes and narrative...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyā
Format: Online
Language:Italian
Published: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:2610-8909
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1869530026476568576
author Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyā
author_browse Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyā
author_facet Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyā
author_sort Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyā
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Qindīl Umm Hāšim, ‘The Lamp of Umm Hāšim’, is the title of Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī’s collection of short stories, first published in 1944, that made the author famous. Its enormous success can be traced back to the novella of the same title that opens the collection. The novella, due to its themes and narrative form, perfectly synthesizes the nationalistic spirit and modern ideals that developed in the 1920s around the al-madrasa al-ḥadīṯa movement, ‘The Modern School’, and ranks among the classics of modern Arabic fiction. It is a formally and stylistically mature work that manages to communicate in a linear and concise manner – with a formally perfect style and language that is both symbolic and direct – the spiritual, psychological and cultural complexity of the multidimensional tensions that characterise modern Egyptian reality. In 1975, following numerous reprints, an integrated edition of the collection was published containing Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī’s autobiography, which constitutes a true original essay by the author. In his autobiography Ašǧān ʿuḍw muntasib (Concerns of an affiliated member), Ḥaqqī not only reports the most important events of his life, but also offers a literary manifesto in which he confides his ideological, stylistic and literary concerns to the reader. The autobiographical manifesto emphasises how through writing (and the short story, in particular), Ḥaqqī wants to ‘shake up the Egyptian people’ so that they become aware of the socio-cultural and identity-national values that art plays in the modern era. Both his autobiography and the novella The Lamp of Umm Hāšim complement each other in capturing all the details that make up the style, ideology, innovation and commitment of a modern Egyptian intellectual. The novella – concentrated in a modest narrative space, along with Ḥaqqī’s literary manifesto – indisputably finds its place among the Great Books of Arabic Literature.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-178079
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language ita
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press
publisherStr Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1780792026-06-30T05:07:21Z Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyā Pennisi, Rosa Autobiography Novella Qindīl Umm Hāšim Short stories The Modern School Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSR Arabic 5TFB thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSK Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSM Comparative literature Qindīl Umm Hāšim, ‘The Lamp of Umm Hāšim’, is the title of Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī’s collection of short stories, first published in 1944, that made the author famous. Its enormous success can be traced back to the novella of the same title that opens the collection. The novella, due to its themes and narrative form, perfectly synthesizes the nationalistic spirit and modern ideals that developed in the 1920s around the al-madrasa al-ḥadīṯa movement, ‘The Modern School’, and ranks among the classics of modern Arabic fiction. It is a formally and stylistically mature work that manages to communicate in a linear and concise manner – with a formally perfect style and language that is both symbolic and direct – the spiritual, psychological and cultural complexity of the multidimensional tensions that characterise modern Egyptian reality. In 1975, following numerous reprints, an integrated edition of the collection was published containing Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī’s autobiography, which constitutes a true original essay by the author. In his autobiography Ašǧān ʿuḍw muntasib (Concerns of an affiliated member), Ḥaqqī not only reports the most important events of his life, but also offers a literary manifesto in which he confides his ideological, stylistic and literary concerns to the reader. The autobiographical manifesto emphasises how through writing (and the short story, in particular), Ḥaqqī wants to ‘shake up the Egyptian people’ so that they become aware of the socio-cultural and identity-national values that art plays in the modern era. Both his autobiography and the novella The Lamp of Umm Hāšim complement each other in capturing all the details that make up the style, ideology, innovation and commitment of a modern Egyptian intellectual. The novella – concentrated in a modest narrative space, along with Ḥaqqī’s literary manifesto – indisputably finds its place among the Great Books of Arabic Literature. 2026-06-30T05:07:17Z 2026-06-30T05:07:17Z 2026-06-29T11:22:44Z 2022 book 2610-8909 https://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/libri/978-88-6969-599-5/ https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/114482 9788869695988 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/178079 ita I grandi libri della letteratura araba open access image/jpeg https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/114482/4/9788869695988.pdf Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press 10.30687/978-88-6969-598-8 10.30687/978-88-6969-598-8 9788869695988 Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press None Venice, Italy open access
spellingShingle Autobiography
Novella
Qindīl Umm Hāšim
Short stories
The Modern School
Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī
thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSR Arabic
5TFB
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSK Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSM Comparative literature
Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyā
Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography
title Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography
title_full Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography
title_fullStr Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography
title_full_unstemmed Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography
title_short Qindīl Umm Hāšim: Umm Hāšim's Lamp with the Author's Autobiography
title_sort qindil umm hasim umm hasim s lamp with the author s autobiography
topic Autobiography
Novella
Qindīl Umm Hāšim
Short stories
The Modern School
Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī
thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSR Arabic
5TFB
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSK Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSM Comparative literature
topic_facet Autobiography
Novella
Qindīl Umm Hāšim
Short stories
The Modern School
Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī
thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSR Arabic
5TFB
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSA Literary theory
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSK Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSM Comparative literature
url 2610-8909
work_keys_str_mv AT haqqiyahya qindilummhasimummhasimslampwiththeauthorsautobiography