Jeanne Arcache (Arabic: جان اركاش, 1902–1961) is a pioneer Lebanese Francophone poet, novelist, and journalist, who wrote for French-language periodicals in Egypt.[1][2]

Biography

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Arcache was born in 1902 in Alexandria to a Lebanese father and a French mother. She attended the Lycée Française in her native city and pursued an education in literature and music.[3] Arcache wrote for several journals in Egypt, most notably the weekly Image,[1] La Semaine Egyptienne,[4] and the monthly La Revue du Caire.[1] She was a member of La société des auteurs libanais de langue française (The Society of French-speaking Lebanese Authors) which included leading authors such as Michel Chiha, Michel Talhamé, Georges Schéhadé, Emile Cousa, Alfred Naccache, Eveline Bustros, and Blanche Amoun; all Christian Lebanese nationalists.[5]

Arcache's literary career was influenced by Alexandria-based Lady Weissenborn, a German author and painter, and the Swiss poet Jacques-René Fiechter, a university professor and director of the Swiss School of Alexandria de (Ecole suisse d'Alexandrie).[6] Arcache was a pentalingual cosmopolite; she traveled extensively in Europe, and visited France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany.[7]

In 1945, she married Charles Kuentz, who headed the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.[1] She died in France in 1961.[8]

Published works

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  • L'Egypte dans mon miroir (poetry -1931)
  • La chambre haute (poetry - 1933)
  • L'Emir à la croix (novel - 1938)[1]
  • Les chêvres d'Abou Soliman (novel - 1953)[9]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e ʻĀshūr et al. 2008, p. 153.
  2. ^ Najjar 2014, p. 174.
  3. ^ Luthi 1981.
  4. ^ Bardaouil 2016, p. 363.
  5. ^ Kaufman 2014, p. 238.
  6. ^ Luthi 1981, p. 56.
  7. ^ Gorman & Irving 2020, p. 148.
  8. ^ Haddad 2000, p. 248.
  9. ^ Kassem 2005.

Sources

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  • ʻĀshūr, Raḍwá; Ghazoul, Ferial Jabouri; Reda-Mekdashi, Hasna; McClure, Mandy (2008). Arab Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999. American Univ in Cairo Press. ISBN 978-977-416-146-9.
  • Bardaouil, Sam (2016). Surrealism in Egypt: Modernism and the Art and Liberty Group. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78672-163-1.
  • Gorman, Anthony; Irving, Sarah (2020). Cultural Entanglement in the Pre-Independence Arab World: Arts, Thought and Literature. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7556-0630-6.
  • Haddad, Katia (2000). La littérature francophone du Machrek: anthologie critique [The Francophone literature of the Mashreq: A Critical anthology] (in French). Presses de l'Université Saint-Joseph. ISBN 978-9953-9002-1-6.
  • Kassem, Mahmud (2005). "أديبات عربيات يكتبن بالفرنسية - غريبات في اللغة غريبات في الجغرافيا" [Arab Francophone women writers - Strangers in language, aliens in geography]. Al-Katiba. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  • Kaufman, Asher (2014). Reviving Phoenicia: The Search for Identity in Lebanon. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85773-602-4.
  • Luthi, Jean-Jacques (1981). Le francais en Egypte: essai d'anthologie [The French language in Egypt: an anthology essay] (in French). Maison Naaman pour la Culture.
  • Najjar, Alexandre (2014). Dictionnaire amoureux du Liban (in French). Place des éditeurs. ISBN 978-2-259-22983-8.