Guest of the ilb 2003
Jabbar Yassin Hussin was born in Baghdad, Iraq in
1954. He grew up in a laicised and politically left-wing
environment. After the Ba’ath Party took over power in 1968 (with
Saddam Hussein as head of the ministry for state security), he joined
the Communist Party at the age of 14. He was arrested and
tortured several times while still at school because of his political
activities, which included holding the chair of the young communists of
Baghdad. He withdrew his membership in 1973, when the Communist
Party was taken over by the Ba’ath Party. From then on he was
under constant observation by Saddam Hussein’s regime. He was a
student at the University of Baghdad and worked as a journalist for a
short period but was not allowed to continue either his studies or his
journalistic work. Instead, he wrote novellas, short stories and
fairy stories for children. In 1976 he was threatened with
further arrest, and had to flee the country to France.
There, together with others in exile he founded the magazine 'Aswat'
(Engl: The Voice), a publication which took a critical stance on Saddam
Hussein.
As well as short stories, Jabbar Yassin Hussin also writes articles for
various newspapers and magazines. His texts are primarily
concerned with the traumatic experience of exile, the loss of home and
identity. "I wrote so as to remember what I had left
behind." He works in Arabic – both a conscious and an
emotional decision, as his power of expression in his native language
was relativised by the dominance of the exile language French.
His books have been published in France since the early 90’s and
include 'Adieu, l’enfant' (1996), a very personal approach to the
stories and memories of his childhood. His stories 'Le lecteur de
Bagdad. Contes et nouvelles' (2000) and 'Histoires de jour, contes de
nuit' (2003) recall his life in his home country. Published the
same year, 'Paroles d’argiles – Un Irakien en exile' is a collection of
articles, commentaries and speeches on the current situation in Iraq
that were originally printed in the Arabic press. His texts have
been translated into eight European languages. Jabbar Yassin Hussin has
been living near La Rochelle in France since 1992. He visited the Iraq
for the last time in 2004.
© international literature festival berlin
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Aux Rives de la folie
L´Harmattan
Paris, 1991
Un Ciel assombri d´étoiles
Atelier du Gué
Villelongue d´Aude, 1996
Adieu l´enfant
Atelier du Gué
Villelongue d´Aude, 1996
Yémen-Détours
L´Esprit des Peninsules
Paris, 2000
Le Lecteur de Bagdad
Atelier du Gué
Villelongue d´Aude, 2000
Histoires de jour, contes de nuit
Atelier du Gué
Villelongue d´Aude, 2002
Paroles d´argile
Atelier du Gué
Villelongue d´Aude, 2003
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