Origins & Early Life

Yusuf al-Khal (Arabic: يوسف الخال, romanized: Yūsuf al-Khāl; December 25, 1917 – March 9, 1987) was a Syrian-Lebanese poet, journalist, and publisher. He is considered the greatest exponent of avantgardist prose poetry (qaṣīdat al-natr) in the Arab world as well one of the pioneers of Arabic surrealist poetry. With fellow poets Adonis and Ounsi el-Hajj, al-Khal founded the magazine Shi'r ("Poetry") in Beirut in 1957, initiating a movement to modernize Arabic literature. Al-Khal's poetry has been recognized in Near East poetry collections.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He was also one of the first to translate English-language poets such as Walt Whitman, T. S. Eliot, and Robert Frost into Arabic. Yusuf Al-Khal was born on December 25, 1917 in Amar al-Husn, Syria, the son of a Syrian Protestant minister from Wadi al-Nasara and a Lebanese mother from Tripoli. From 1944 to 1948, al-Khal taught at the American University in Beirut, where he had previously studied under Charles Malik and did his bachelor's degree in philosophy and English literature.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

He established the Dar al-Kitab in Beirut, and this house started its activities by publishing the magazine “Sawt a Woman”, which was edited by...

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