al-Arnāʾūṭ, Maʿrūf Aḥmad - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Baldissera, Eros
Leiden
Brill
(341 words)
Maʿrūf Aḥmad al-Arnāʾūṭ (1892-1948), a pioneer in the field of historical fiction in Syria, was born in Beirut to an aristocratic family of Albanian origin. After receiving a traditional Ottoman education, he emerged in the period between the world wars as the major representative of the historical novel, a genre that can be placed within the analogous trend in the European tradition. As a journalist and translator living in Damascus, he became a Syrian citizen in 1920 during the brief reign of King Fayṣal (son of Ḥusayn, the