Rafik Schami

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Rafik Schami at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2017

Rafik Schami ( Arabic رفيق شامي, DMG Rafīq Šāmī ; * June 23, 1946 as Suheil Fadel ,سهيل فاضل, DMG Suhail Fadil , in Damascus ) is a Syrian -German writer with a doctorate in chemistry .

Life

Rafik Schami comes from a Christian - Aramaic minority in Damascus, attended a Jesuit monastery boarding school in northern Lebanon and studied chemistry , mathematics and physics in Damascus . Already at the age of nineteen he had devoted himself to literature and in 1966 founded and directed the wall newspaper Al-Muntalak ( Eng . 'Starting point') in the old town of Damascus , which was banned in 1969.

In 1970, Rafik Schami left his home country Syria and first went to Lebanon - on the one hand to avoid military service, on the other hand because he said he was “choking” because of the censorship . In 1971 he emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany. He continued his chemistry studies in Heidelberg and graduated with a doctorate in 1979 . In addition to his studies, he took various temporary jobs in factories, department stores, restaurants and on construction sites. He published numerous texts in magazines and anthologies , initially in Arabic and since 1977 also in German. In 1978 he published his first book in German with Other Fairy Tales . In 1980 he co-founded the literature group "Südwind" and the PoLiKunst-Verein (= Polynational Literature and Art Association). Schami lives as a freelance writer in the Palatinate community of Marnheim in the Donnersbergkreis . From 1980 to 1985 Rafik Schami was co-editor and author of the series “Südwind-Gastarbeiterdeutsch” and the series “Südwind-Literatur” (a total of 13 volumes).

He has received numerous awards and prizes for his work. His success is based not least on his numerous readings , during which he develops his talent for free storytelling. The sale of the one millionth copy of the Schamis paperback books by dtv in January 2005 testifies to its consistently great popularity with the German public.

Rafik Schami has been committed to reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis for many years and has tried to promote this task on many occasions. B. at congresses, in his extensive essayistic work and not least as editor of the collection of articles Anxiety in one's own country (2001), in which Arabs and Israelis have their say and comment on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Schami was sharply criticized by state-loyal authors from the Arab world during the 2004 Frankfurt Book Fair . The reason for this was Shami's statements about the situation of authors in Arab countries in a stern interview.

Shami is a citizen of Syria and Germany. In 1990 he met the draftsman and author Root Leeb , with whom he has been married since 1991 and has a son. Root Leeb illustrated a large number of his books, designed the cover images of all of Schami 's books published by dtv and thus gave them an unmistakable face. The son, Emil Fadel (* 1992), first became known as a writer to a wider public when he won the Martha Saalfeld Prize in 2014.

In 2010 Schami received the Brothers Grimm Professorship at the University of Kassel . His lectures deal with storytelling. Previous owners were among others the Nobel Prize for Literature Herta Müller as well as Christoph Hein and Klaus Harpprecht .

Literary meaning

Rafik Schami, 2008

The defining themes of Schami's work are the life of migrants in Germany, the portrayal of the Arab world in the past, today and in utopia , politics and society as well as the storytelling itself. Schami is considered a gifted narrator. In keeping with the narrative tradition of his hometown Damascus, he prefers to tell his audience orally. An essential feature of Shami's style is its proximity to the oral tradition of Arabic storytelling in the sense of an integration of the Arabic and German tradition of storytelling. His books are mainly collections of stories, with the stories containing conscious echoes of the Arabian Nights (1001 Nights). A series of orally conveyed stories is unfolded within a purely narrative framework. As a child he was telling stories to his friends on the streets of Damascus; Even his public appearances today are less typical readings than free retelling of his work.

In the first phase of his German-language writing, Schami devoted himself to both the fairy tale world of Arabia and the life of strangers in Germany. On the one hand, his books offer a fascinating insight into the oriental worlds of life and thought, which sometimes seem very strange, and on the other hand, they show the stranger's attentive gaze on the peculiarities of Germany, which has become his second home. It is Schami's goal to bring the diversity of the Arab world closer to German readers and thus contribute to mediating between Orient and Occident . He also became an initiator of the so-called guest worker literature . However, he managed relatively quickly to break away from the genre boundaries of 'guest worker literature' and to find his own style. It can be observed that at the beginning of his literary work in the choice of locations, a strict distinction is drawn between the Orient, the processing of childhood and adolescent experiences, and the Occident, the representation of the life of a stranger in the other country. Only with the novel Journey between Night and Morning (1995) is this separation abandoned, and Schami begins to thematize the 'back and forth' between the worlds ( Die Sehnsucht der Schwalbe , 2000). In numerous essays and literary texts he takes on the role of a mediator between Orient and Occident. The climax of this mediating role is the poetic confrontation with Goethe in The Secret Report on the Poet Goethe, who passed an examination on an Arab island (1999), Shami's first text translated into Arabic. Shami's literature thus reflects the process of gradually becoming more at home in the new country.

Rafik Schami addresses readers of all ages with his literature. His publications use many different genres , they range from picture books such as How I took Papa's fear of strangers (2003) through children's books, for example Luki. The Adventures of a Little Bird (1993), the socially critical novel for young and adult readers, e.g. B. The honest liar (1992) or Milad (1997), to the political essay and the political book publication such as Mit Fremd Augen (2002), from fairy tales, cf. z. B. the Malula Collection . Fairy tales and fairy tales from my village (1987), to satire , for example For example, the collection The Fly Melker (1985), from the autobiographical youth novel A Hand Full of Stars (1987) to the autobiographical satirical novel for adults, Sieben Doppelgänger (1999). Rafik Schami has developed a new form of oriental-occidental writing for the German literary landscape - the high point of his literary work to date is the extensive novel The Dark Side of Love (2004), which was also recognized and highly praised by literary critics. This novel is primarily an autobiographical discussion of the history of Syria from 1870 to 1970, when the author left Damascus.

In the essay collection Damascus in the Heart and Germany in Sight , published in 2006 , Schami paints a gloomy picture of the Arab world. Schami sees the “roots of a sick society” in a dictatorial oppression of the Arabs in different clothes, which began under Muʿāwiya I and has continued to this day. In this context, he strongly defends himself against the glorification of Saladin , whom he describes as a "merciless fanatic" who had critics executed without scruples. Centuries of surveillance and control and the fear resulting from it have "paralyzed and schizophrenic " the Arab people . In public it bowed to dictation, inwardly it mocked the regimes and felt superior without realizing that it had got used to the shackles of oppression. The rulers, in turn, would unrestrainedly repackage “economic catastrophes into reports of success” and operate “clan, cousin and mafia economy” under the guise of political ideologies . The “mutual lie” is “one of the elementary common characteristics of Arab countries alongside the Arabic language.” Arab children would grow up with this lie. On the outside it is important to keep tight, on the inside there is absolute loyalty to the family and clan . This has led to "self-censorship", and any criticism is considered dangerous "nest pollution". This would also answer “missteps by relatives with silence”. In this context, Schami attributes the oppression of women to the offended feeling of honor of the Arab man, who does not dare to defend himself publicly and is all the more authoritarian in the family. Schami also criticizes the lack of freedom of the press in the Arab world. Where the "freedom of the word is trampled underfoot", one can "not get primary news via one's own radio or the newspaper."

In the book The Secret of the Calligrapher , published in 2008, Rafik Schami tells ornamentally about art and married life in Damascus: The story takes place in Damascus in the 1950s and consists of two large narratives: a hidden, secret love story and the story of the calligrapher, which is also a story the reform of the Arabic script and becomes the focus of a political conspiracy.

pseudonym

The pseudonym Rafik Schami (رفيق شامي, DMG Rafīq Šāmī ) means "friend from Damascus". In Arabic , ash-sham means (الشام / aš-Šām , "the north") the Levant or more precisely the region between the Euphrates and Sinai in the Middle East . In modern Arabic, canشام / Šām "Syria", especially in Syriac-Arabic but also "Damascus" (actuallyدمشق / Dimašq ),شامي / šāmī thus mean "Syrian" or "from Damascus".رفيق / rafīq stands for companion, companion, comrade, friend, comrade or friendly, kind.

Awards

Works

  • with Angelika Sahra: Other fairy tales . Progress Third World Verlag, Bonn 1978, ISBN 3-88253-014-6 .
  • Luki, the adventure of a little bird, Fischer, Göttingen 1983, ISBN 3-439-82826-3 (= Göttingen Fischer book ).
  • The sheep in wolf's clothing. Fairy tales and fables. Illustrations by Barbara Rieder. Pad, Dortmund 1982, ISBN 3-88515-030-1 (= The Other Fairy Tale , Volume 1); Neuer Malik Verlag, Kiel 1986, ISBN 3-89029-158-9 ; dtv 11026, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-423-11026-0 .
  • The brown rat's last word. Fairy tales, fables and fantastic stories. Illustrated by Erika Rapp, Neuer Malik Verlag, Kiel, 1984, ISBN 3-89029-153-8 (= Südwind literature ); dtv 10735, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-423-10735-9 .
  • Why is Babs allowed to laugh again? Fischer, Göttingen 1985, ISBN 3-439-82003-3 (= Göttinger Gänseliesel books ).
  • The fly milker and other stories from Damascus. The Arabic Book, Berlin 1985; dtv 11081, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-423-11081-3 .
  • The first ride through the eye of the needle: even more fairy tales, fables & fantastic stories. Illustrated by Erika Rapp. Neuer Malik Verlag, Kiel 1985, ISBN 3-89029-156-2 (= Südwind literature ); dtv 10896, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-423-10896-7 .
  • The camel driver from Heidelberg. A radio play and the stories " The Butterfly " and Bobo and Susu: when the elephant fell in love with a mouse . Illustrated by Erika Rapp. Jungbrunnen, Vienna / Munich 1986. ISBN 3-7026-5588-3 .
  • Being crazy is not that easy . 1 MC , Network-Medien-Cooperative, Frankfurt am Main 1987.
  • Malula: Fairy tales and fairy tales from my village . Neuer Malik Verlag, Kiel 1987, ISBN 3-89029-161-9 ; dtv 11219, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-423-11219-0 (revised from the 6th edition in 1994 as fairy tale from Malula ).
  • A hand full of stars . Beltz, Weinheim 1987, ISBN 3-407-80822-4 ; dtv, Munich 1995, ISBN 978-3-423-11973-3
  • Longing goes black: stories from abroad . dtv 10842, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-423-10842-8 .
  • Narrator of the night. Beltz, Weinheim 1989, ISBN 3-407-80038-X ; read as audio book by Felix von Manteuffel, illustrated by Dorothea Göbel. Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim 2006, ISBN 3-407-80978-6 .; dtv, Munich 1994, ISBN 978-3-423-11915-3
  • The wonder box. Illustrated by Peter Knorr. Beltz, Weinheim 1990, ISBN 3-407-80363-X ; as an audio book: Rafik Schami tells: The wonder box . 1 MC , Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim / Basel 1990, ISBN 3-407-80373-7 .
  • The flying tree. The most beautiful fairy tales, fables and fantastic stories. Illustrated by Root Leeb , Neuer Malik Verlag, Kiel 1991, ISBN 3-89029-066-3 .
  • The magic of the tongue. Talking against silence. Im Waldgut, Frauenfeld 1991, ISBN 3-7294-0071-1 (= The Bear Guardian in the Waldgut ); dtv 12434, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-423-12434-2 .
  • The honest liar. Novel of a thousand and one lies. Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim / Basel 1992, ISBN 3-407-78987-4 ; dtv 12203, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-12203-X .
  • The Fly Milker: Stories from Damascus . Illustrated by Root Leeb; New Malik Verlag, Kiel 1993, ISBN 3-89029-080-9 .
  • It's not a parrot. Illustrations by Wolf Erlbruch . dtv 63020, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-423-62020-X .
  • Times of storytelling Edited by Erich Jooß , Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau / Basel / Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-451-04259-2 (= Herder spectrum , volume 4259).
  • The burning iceberg. A speech, its story and more. Waldgut, Frauenfeld 1994, ISBN 3-7294-0204-8 (= bear guardian in the forest estate ).
  • School stories . German teacher at the Weilheim grammar school in 1995 (= Weilheimer Hefte zur Literatur , Volume 41).
  • Journey between night and morning. Hanser, Munich / Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-446-17864-3 ; dtv 62083, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-62083-8 .
  • Praise song and other olive stones. Hanser, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-446-18638-7 .
  • Longing drives black. Stories from abroad. dtv 10842, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-10842-8 .
  • Collected olive pits. The stranger from the diary. Illustrated by Root Leeb, Hanser Munich / Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-446-18638-7 ; dtv 12771, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-12771-6 .
  • Hurdles or the incredible adventures that someone experiences who wants to tell his story to the end . Speech at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt on June 28, 1996 with a list of works and literature on children's and youth literary works. Friends of the Institute for Youth Book Research at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main 1996 (annual edition of the Freudenkreis).
  • Milad. One who went out to be full for twenty-one days. Hanser, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-446-19129-1 .
  • The first kiss in three years. dtv 8370, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-08370-0 (partial edition of: The longing goes black ).
  • The first ride through the eye of the needle. Even more fairy tales, fables & fantastic stories. dtv 10896, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-423-10896-7 .
  • Erich Jooß (Ed.): Back then there and now here. About being a stranger. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, ISBN 3-451-04609-1 . (It is a "biographical" conversation book, an exchange of ideas by fax , the questions asked Erich Jooß)
  • Albin and Lila. Illustrated by Els Cools & Oliver Streich, NordSüd Gossau / Zurich / Hamburg / Salzburg 1999, ISBN 3-314-00988-7 (children's book).
  • with Uwe-Michael Gutzschhahn: The secret report about the poet Goethe . How he passed an exam on an Arab island. Hanser, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-446-19639-0 ; dtv 62068, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-62068-4
  • Seven doubles. Hanser, Munich / Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-446-19680-3 ; dtv 12936, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-12936-0 .
  • as editor: How did the ax get in the carpenter's back. Murderous stories about craftsmen and other service providers. Sanssouci, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7254-1136-0 . (Stories by Franz Hohler , Ulrich Knellwolf, Michael Krüger )
  • Times of storytelling. With new magical stories. Edited by Erich Jooß, Herder, Freiburg 2000, ISBN 3-451-04997-X (= Herder spectrum , volume 4997).
  • The longing of the swallow. Novel. dtv 62195, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-423-62195-8 .
  • Fear in their own country. Israeli and Palestinian writers in conversation. Essays. Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-312-00281-8 .
  • The color of the words. Stories and pictures. illustrated by Root Leeb. ars vivendi, Cadolzburg 2002, ISBN 3-89716-364-0 : as audio book: The color of words. Calendar stories. DHV - Der Hörverlag, ISBN 3-89584-905-7 . (2 CDs )
  • With strange eyes. Diary about September 11th , the Palestine conflict and the Arab world. Palmyra, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-930378-44-2 ; Paperback edition: dtv 13241, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-423-13241-8 .
  • with his sister Marie Fadel: Damascus, the taste of a city. Sanssouci, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7254-1236-7 .
  • How I took away dad's fear of strangers. Hanser, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-446-20331-1 .
  • The great Rafik Schami book. Illustrations by Root Leeb, dtv 62150, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-62150-8 ; NA dtv 62418, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-62418-3
  • The most beautiful fairy tales . Hanser, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-446-20343-5 .
  • The dark side of love. Hanser, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-446-20536-5 ; dtv, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-423-21224-3 . As an audio book, read by Andrea Hörnke-Triess, Markus Hoffmann and Rafik Schami. Verlag Steinbach speaking books, ISBN 3-88698-753-1 . (21 CD)
  • with the Duo Pianoworte: Der Schnabelsteher. Audiobook read by Helmut Thiele. Audionauts, ISBN 978-3-89830-949-3 . (1 CD)
  • Damascus in the heart and Germany in view. Hanser, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-446-20732-5 ; dtv, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-13796-6
  • with Henrike Wilson (illustrations): The camel driver from Heidelberg . Stories for children of all ages. Hanser, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-446-20708-2 ; dtv 13796, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-13796-6
  • as editor: Praise of marriage . A world literary loyalty book, anthology . . Manesse, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7175-2102-0 (= Manesse Library of World Literature ).
  • How light as a feather love can move a heavy bear. Illustrations by Barbara Trapp. Verlag am Eschbach, Eschbach im Markgräflerland 2007, ISBN 978-3-88671-589-3 .
  • What I can do lasts longer. A story of the beauty of writing . With calligraphies by Ismat Amiralai, Hanser, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-23043-9 .
  • The calligrapher's secret . Hanser, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-23051-4 ; as TB: with an extra story of the beauty of writing : dtv 13918, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-423-13918-2 (parallel text in Arabic script).
  • The birth, a Christmas story . Verlag am Eschbach, Eschbach im Markgräflerland 2008, ISBN 978-3-88671-775-0 (= Eschbacher Minis ).
  • A German passion called noodle salad and other strange stories . dtv 14003, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-423-14003-4 .
  • "How do I look?" Asked God. Illustrations by Sandra Beer. Hansisches Druck- und Verlagshaus, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-86921-075-9 (= Edition Chrismon ).
  • The woman who sold her husband at the flea market. Hanser, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-446-23771-1 ; dtv 14158, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-423-14158-1 .
  • The doll's heart . Illustrated by Kathrin Schärer. Hanser, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-23896-1 (children's book).
  • "Are you scared?" Asked the mouse. Beltz, Weinheim 2013, ISBN 978-3-407-79525-0 (children's book).
  • The courage, the dignity and the word. The obligation to open your mouth. A speech, Edition Syndikat, Karlsruhe 2013, ISBN 978-3-88190-737-8 .
  • Master Mario's story. How the puppets danced out of line . Illustrations by Anja Maria Eisen. Hanser, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-446-24309-5 (children's book).
  • as editor and co-author: Sechs Sterne - Reisen . Ars vivendi verlag, Cadolzburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-86913-498-7 (short stories by Franz Hohler , Root Leeb, Monika Helfer , Michael Köhlmeier , Nataša Dragnić and Rafik Schami).
  • Sophia or the beginning of all stories. Novel. Hanser, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-446-24941-7 .
  • I just wanted to tell stories. Mosaic of the Stranger. Coproduction by Hirnkost Verlag and Verlag Hans Schiler, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-89930-170-0 and ISBN 978-3-945398-65-4
  • Sami and the desire for freedom. Novel. Beltz, Weinheim / Basel 2017, ISBN 978-3-407-82319-9 .
  • Escape from Syria - new home Germany? Hirnkost Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-945-398-80-7
  • with Markus Köninger (illustration): A hand full of stars. Graphic novel . Beltz, Weinheim / Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-407-82359-5 . Adaptation of the classic A Hand Full of Stars
  • The cardinal's secret mission. Hanser, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-446-26379-6 .

literature

  • Uta Aifan: Images of Arabs. On the work of German-Arab cross-border authors of the present. Shaker, Aachen 2003, ISBN 3-8322-1788-6 .
  • Nader Alsarras: The images of the Orient in Rafik Schami's work. A literary study using the example of his novel “The Dark Side of Love”. Dissertation, online
  • Amir Mansour Bavar: Aspects of German-Language Migration Literature. The representation of the locals in Alev Tekinay and Rafik Schami. iudicium, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89129-770-X .
  • Graeme Dunphy: Rafik Shami. In: Matthias Konzett (Ed.): Encyclopedia of German Literature. II, Fitzroy-Dearborn, 2000, ISBN 1-57958-138-2 , pp. 849-851.
  • Annette Deeken : The crafty Hakawati. About the oriental storyteller Rafik Schami. In: German lessons. 48th Jg. (1995), H. 7/8, pp. 363-370.
  • Benoît Ellerbach: High and low literature with Rafik Schami. In: Annie Bourguignon, Konrad Harrer and Franz Hintereder-Emde (eds.): Between canon and entertainment. Intercultural and intermedial aspects of high and low literature. Frank & Timme, Berlin 2016, pp. 151–162.
  • Benoît Ellerbach: "The dark side of love": l'étrangeté revisitée par Rafik Schami. In: Blandine Chapuis and Jean-Pierre Chassagne (eds.): Etrangeté des formes, formes de l'étrangeté - strangeness of forms, forms of strangeness , Publications de l'Université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne 2013, p. 147 -162.
  • Benoît Ellerbach: Author and work in the mirror of reception: considerations on the classification of Rafik Schami's work in German-language literature . In: Christine Meyer (Ed.): Cosmopolitan "Germanophonie". Postnational Perspectives in Contemporary German-Language Literature. Königshausen & Neumann Würzburg 2012, pp. 153–171.
  • Benoît Ellerbach: L'Arabie contée aux Allemands. Fictions intercultural chez Rafik Schami . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8260-6484-5 .
  • Hans-Heino Ewers: An oriental storyteller, a modern writer? Reflections on the authorship of Rafik Shami. In: Ulrich Nassen, Gina Weinkauff (ed.): Configuration of the Stranger in Children's and Youth Literature after 1945. iudicum, Munich 2000, pp. 155–167, ISBN 3-89129-724-6 .
  • Franco Foraci: "The word is the ultimate freedom we have". Conversation with the Syrian narrator and writer Rafik Schami. In: Discussion German. 26th year (1995), H. 143, pp. 190-195.
  • Iman Osman Khalil: Rafik Schami's Fantasy and Fairy Tales. In: International Fiction Review. 17th year (1990), no. 2, pp. 121-123.
  • Iman Osman Khalil: On the concept of multiculturalism in Rafik Shami's work. In: Monthly books for German-language literature and culture. 86th year (1994), no. 2, pp. 201-217.
  • Iman Osman Khalil: Narrative Strategies as Cultural Vehicles. On Rafik Schami's Novel “Narrator of the Night”. In: Carol Aisha Blackshire-Belay (Ed.): The German Mosaic. Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Society. Greenwood, Westport, CT 1994, pp. 217-224.
  • Iman Osman Khalil: From the Margins to the Center. Arab-German Authors ans Issues. In: Dagmar CG Lorenz, Renate Posthofen (eds.): Transforming the Center, Eroding the Margins. Essays on Ethnic and Cultural Boundaries in German-Speaking Countries. Camden House, Columbia, SC 1998, pp. 227-237.
  • Fernando Martins de Toledo: Por outros olhos: Alteridade em tradução de (e em) Rafik Schami . São Paulo: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) (2016). Master thesis, online
  • Iman Khalil: On the Reception of Arab Authors in Germany. In: Sabine Fischer, Moray McGowan (Ed.): Because you dance on a rope. Positions in German-language migrant literature. Stauffenburg, Tübingen 1997, ISBN 3-86057-030-7 , pp. 115-131.
  • Heidi Rösch: Migration literature in an intercultural context: a didactic study of the literature by Aras Ören, Aysel Özakin, Franco Biondi and Rafik Schami. Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-88939-024-2 (At the same time dissertation at the Technical University of Berlin 1992).
  • Haimaa el Wardy: The fairy tale and the fairy tale in the politically committed works of Günter Grass and Rafik Schami , Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-631-56970-2 (also dissertation at the Humboldt University in Berlin 2007).
  • Bettina Wild: Rafik Schami. Portrait. dtv-TB 3184, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-423-31084-7 .
  • Nina May (interviewer): “The world has left the Syrian people in the lurch.” The Syrian-German writer Rafik Schami on the conflict in his homeland, upper limits for refugees - and his mother's love for lenses , interview with a short vita in the Hannoverschen Allgemeine Zeitung of December 9, 2017, p. 26

Web links

Wikiquote: Rafik Schami  - Quotes
Commons : Rafik Schami  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arno Luik: Rafik Schami: "Emigrants die young" . Stern , September 26, 2004; interview
  2. ^ From antiquity, self-discovery and slam texts , Ministry for Education, Science, Continuing Education and Culture Rhineland-Palatinate, press release July 4, 2014; accessed January 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ Lothar Müller: He has to go through that . In: FAZ , August 7, 1999; Review.
  4. ↑ Monika Brandmaier: The "Friend from Damascus" - "Weilheim Literature Prize 2003" awarded to Rafik Schami. Münchner Merkur , April 2, 2009.
  5. ↑ The immense importance of ash shame. In: Islamische Zeitung , January 3, 2007, accessed on July 21, 2018.
  6. ↑ Hans Wehr: Arabic dictionary for the written language of the present . Wiesbaden 1998, entries شام (". 625) and شامي (p. 626) .
  7. ↑ Hans Wehr: Arabic dictionary for the written language of the present . Wiesbaden 1998, entry رفيق (p. 478) .
  8. ↑ Michael Köhlmeier: Scheherazade's brother. Retrieved June 25, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Michael Gottschalk: A "Mosaic of Strangers" designed. In: DJV. DJV-Landesverband Rheinland-Pfalz, June 11, 2016, accessed on June 13, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Shami, Rafik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES رفيق شامي (Arabic); سهيل فاضل (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Syrian-German writer and doctorate in chemistry
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Damascus , Syria