Abdulwahab Al-Bayyati

Abdulwahab Al-Bayyati ( Arabic عبد الوهاب البياتي; born December 19, 1926 in Baghdad ; died August 3, 1999 in Damascus ) was an Iraqi poet . He was considered the most important Arab poet of socialist realism .

life and work

Bayyati was born into a trader's family. He trained as a teacher and taught from 1950 to 1954.

During this time he wrote the volumes of poetry Engel und Teufel (1950) and Broken Jugs (1955). His poetry criticized the colonialism and the reactionary government of Nuri as-Said and led to the oppression of the poet. In 1955 he fled Iraq into exile . In Cairo he wrote the poetry collections Glory for Children and Olives (1956) and Verses in Exile (1958). Twenty narrative poems from Berlin (1959) and Immortal Words (1960) contain impressions from the USSR and other socialist countries. This was followed by the narrative poem Lenin (1961) and Message to Nâzım Hikmet (Beirut, 1956). The historical and philosophical play Judgment in Nishapur is about a man who is separated from his fatherland. The Flamme and Words collection (Beirut, 1964) contains poems about the Algerian war .

He also translated poems by Paul Éluard and Louis Aragon into Arabic.

Works (selection)

Aisha's garden. Selected poems. Arabic-German. Translated by Khalid Al-Maaly and Heribert Becker, Hans Schiler Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-8993-02431 .

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Bayyati, Abdulwahab al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	عبد الوهاب البياتي (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Iraqi poet
DATE OF BIRTH	December 19, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH	Baghdad
DATE OF DEATH	August 3, 1999
Place of death	Damascus

[gse-1] Article Баяти Абд аль-Ваххаб in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)

[faz-2] Stefan Weidner : If the sea were made of ink. In: faz.net . July 15, 2003, accessed January 14, 2018 .