Mu'nis Razzaz
Mu'nis Razzaz was a Jordanian writer and is considered one of the most prominent modernist Arab novelists. He is primarily known for 15 award winning stories, including "State Encouragement Prize for the novel", and "State Merit Award in Arts". His works focus on reflecting the situation of the Arabs; his wounds, fears, and pace of his life; and the repression that leads to the resignation of the mind and the pursuit of militants.
Biography
Early life
Mu'nis Razzaz was born on 3 December 1951 in Al-Salt, Jordan, to Syrians Munif Razzaz and Lamah Bseiso . He received his education at Madrasat Al mutran in Amman. His mother was a pioneer in social and political work and his father was involved in politics in addition to his work in medicine. In 1965, Mu'nis and his family moved to Damascus, Syria, when his father was elected as a secretary general of the National Command of the Arab Socialist Baath Party.Razzaz attended Oxford University in the UK for a year to study English before heading to Beirut. The Lebanese Civil War interrupted his studies in philosophy at the Lebanese university, Jamiaat Beirut Al Arabiya. He continued his studies in Iraq at the University of Baghdad, where he published his first novel Al Baher Min Wara'akom. He then traveled to the United States to study philosophy at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. before returning a year later to Baghdad to attend his father's appointment as the Assistant General Secretary of the Arab Socialist Baath Party.
After spending a few years in Beirut, where he worked as a researcher for the Sho'oun Falastiniya journal, Razzaz returned to Amman in 1982, where he published several stories in the journals Al Safir and Al Nahar, and worked at Al Ofuq magazine. In the mid 1980s, he received honors for fifteen of his works, as well as a number of awards including The State Encouragement Prize for Storytelling, The State Merit Award in Literature, and the Hussein Medal for Excellence. UNESCO selected his novel Al Thakira Al Moustabaha and published three millions for Arabs.
In 1992, Razzaz was Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Chief Editor of the monthly Al Afkar magazine. He also wrote daily articles in the Al Ra'ii and Al Zaman magazines. He governed the administrative body of the Jordanian Writers Association from 1992 to 1994 before resigning to temporarily become the General Secretary of the Arab Democratic Party.
During his final months, he began publishing chapters from his autobiography as a form of literature in Al Afkar published by the Jordanian Ministry of Culture, but died before he could complete it.
Close relatives
Mu'nis was the oldest of three siblings with a younger brother and a younger sister.- Omar Razzaz was the Prime Minister of Jordan from 2018 to 2020,
- Zeina Razzaz.
Death
Mu'nis Razzaz died at the age of 51, on 8 February 2002 at Louizmila Hospital in Amman.Literary works
Razzaz's books focus on fractures and contradictions, and contain various styles inside this single divided experience that he falls back on in accordance with his vision towards knowledge and wisdom in times of frustration and desperation. His style first developed with his own imagination and the development of the real world, and explored Arabic novels, ancient Arab legacy, and foreign culture. His style heavily utilizes sarcasm and mockery, which he considered the "best weapon to face the haunted reality – for the loser who laughs at his wounds is a winner in reality."The diversity of constructions and their models within the same novel or between novels reflects his ability to renew, continue experimenting, and generate ideas that are distanced from stereotypes. It does not offer a reproduction of fictional or traditional narrative experiences, but rather a connection to create new models represented by a world of innovation and modernity.
Razzaz's literary works focus on freedom, like his two novels أحياء في البحر الميّت and ليلة عسل. He believed that freedom is an important human value that must be practiced in the daily life of every Arab citizen. He was one of the few Arab writers who dared to write about freedom and its violations in the Arab world. His previous experience in politics focused his interest on the role of freedom and he used his writing to raise political awareness among the readers. Razzaz also criticized the violence of Arab dictatorship regimes in his writings. In his two works, متاهة الاعراب في ناطحات السحاب and عترافات كاتم الصوت, he described the leaders as "wolves" and the citizens as "rabbits" as a critique against the regimes he considered oppressive.
Razzaz used to publish daily political articles in many Jordanian and Arab newspapers, including the Jordanian newspaper Al-Dustour in the second half of the 1980s and the Jordanian newspaper Al-Rai in the 1990s.