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Bitar is an ophthalmologist and surgeon who works at both Latakia Governmental Hospital and her private clinic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Haifa BITAR {{!}} The International Writing Program |url=https://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/haifa-bitar |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=iwp.uiowa.edu}}</ref> She is a member of the Syrian Society of Story and Novel. She has been described as an "outspoken" novelist in ''[[The New Yorker]]''<ref name="Habib 2009">{{cite news |last1=Habib |first1=Shahnaz |title=The Gulf |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-gulf |access-date=21 April 2022 |work=[[The New Yorker]] |date=February 17, 2009}}</ref> and has participated in public discussion forums about a variety of topics.<ref name="Al Lawati 2009">{{cite news |last1=Al Lawati |first1=Abbas |title=Internet globalises Arabic literature |url=https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/arts-culture/internet-globalises-arabic-literature-1.53696 |access-date=21 April 2022 |work=[[Gulf News]] |date=February 27, 2009}}</ref>
Bitar is an ophthalmologist and surgeon who works at both Latakia Governmental Hospital and her private clinic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Haifa BITAR {{!}} The International Writing Program |url=https://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/haifa-bitar |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=iwp.uiowa.edu}}</ref> She is a member of the Syrian Society of Story and Novel. She has been described as an "outspoken" novelist in ''[[The New Yorker]]''<ref name="Habib 2009">{{cite news |last1=Habib |first1=Shahnaz |title=The Gulf |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-gulf |access-date=21 April 2022 |work=[[The New Yorker]] |date=February 17, 2009}}</ref> and has participated in public discussion forums about a variety of topics.<ref name="Al Lawati 2009">{{cite news |last1=Al Lawati |first1=Abbas |title=Internet globalises Arabic literature |url=https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/arts-culture/internet-globalises-arabic-literature-1.53696 |access-date=21 April 2022 |work=[[Gulf News]] |date=February 27, 2009}}</ref>


According to Abir Hamdar, writing in ''The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature'' (2014), her work "repeatedly seeks to offer an insight into the gritty reality of women's lives in the Arab world", and her novels and short stories "focus on tragic female characters who suffer social and psychological injury either at the hands of men or because of their own misplaced ideals and aspirations."<ref name="Hamdar 2014">{{cite book |last1=Hamdar |first1=Abir |title=The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature |date=2014 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=9780815652908 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Female_Suffering_Body/gefqBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=29 April 2022|pages=113-120}}</ref>{{RP|113}} Her 2004 book ''Imraʾa min Hadtha al-ʿAsr'' features the protagonist Maryam and her experience with breast cancer, with her unsuccessful relationships with men in the background, and became the subject of wide criticism for its inclusion of taboo subjects, including female sexuality.<ref name="Hamdar 2014"/>{{RP|114}} Her novel ''A Woman of Fifty'' has a middle-aged protagonist who engages a lover, who according to Samira Aghacy, writing in ''Ageing in the Modern Arabic Novel'', "despises older women" and has an attitude that "reveals the 'double standard of ageing' since society is permissive of sexual activity in older men, but more severe and fanatical when it comes to the older women's sexuality."<ref name="Aghacy 2020">{{cite book |last1=Aghacy |first1=Samira |title=Ageing in the Modern Arabic Novel |date=2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9781474466783 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6UxEAAAQBAJ |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>{{RP|75}} Her novel ''One-Winged Eagle'' has a male protagonist, a doctor named Karim with financial difficulties despite his profession, which according to Lovisa Berg writing in ''Masculinity and Syrian Fiction: Gender, Society and the Female Gaze'', "contrasts the pressure Karim puts on himself with the demands his sister places on men in general to provide for her."<ref name="Berg 2021">{{cite book |last1=Berg |first1=Lovisa |title=Masculinity and Syrian Fiction Gender, Society and the Female Gaze |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780755637638 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Masculinity_and_Syrian_Fiction/AMZKEAAAQBAJ |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>{{RP|96}}
According to Abir Hamdar, writing in ''The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature'' (2014), her work "repeatedly seeks to offer an insight into the gritty reality of women's lives in the Arab world", and her novels and short stories "focus on tragic female characters who suffer social and psychological injury either at the hands of men or because of their own misplaced ideals and aspirations."<ref name="Hamdar 2014">{{cite book |last1=Hamdar |first1=Abir |title=The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature |date=2014 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=9780815652908 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Female_Suffering_Body/gefqBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=29 April 2022|pages=113-120}}</ref>{{RP|113}} Her 2004 book ''Imraʾa min Hadtha al-ʿAsr'' features the protagonist Maryam and her experience with breast cancer, with her unsuccessful relationships with men in the background, and became the subject of wide criticism for its inclusion of taboo subjects, including female sexuality.<ref name="Hamdar 2014"/>{{RP|114}} Her novel ''A Woman of Fifty'' has a middle-aged protagonist who engages a lover, who according to Samira Aghacy, writing in ''Ageing in the Modern Arabic Novel'', "despises older women" and has an attitude that "reveals the 'double standard of ageing' since society is permissive of sexual activity in older men, but more severe and fanatical when it comes to the older women's sexuality."<ref name="Aghacy 2020">{{cite book |last1=Aghacy |first1=Samira |title=Ageing in the Modern Arabic Novel |date=2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9781474466783 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6UxEAAAQBAJ |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>{{RP|75}}
Her novel ''One-Winged Eagle'' has a male protagonist, a doctor named Karim with financial difficulties despite his profession, which according to Lovisa Berg writing in ''Masculinity and Syrian Fiction: Gender, Society and the Female Gaze'', "contrasts the pressure Karim puts on himself with the demands his sister places on men in general to provide for her."<ref name="Berg 2021">{{cite book |last1=Berg |first1=Lovisa |title=Masculinity and Syrian Fiction Gender, Society and the Female Gaze |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780755637638 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Masculinity_and_Syrian_Fiction/AMZKEAAAQBAJ |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>{{RP|96}} In ''The Abbaseen Basement'', the protagonist is the daughter Khulud, who "decides to take revenge on all men because of what her father has done to her mother."<ref name="Berg 2021"/>{{RP|85}}


==Honors and awards==
==Honors and awards==

Revision as of 16:10, 29 April 2022

Haifa Bitar
M.D.
Born
Haifa Basil Bitar

1960 (age 63–64)
Latakia, Syria
NationalitySyria
Notable workThe Fallen (2000)
The Whore (2003)
A Woman of this Modern Age (2004)
AwardsAbi Al Qassem Al Shabbi prize (2000, 2003)

Haifa Basil Bitar (born 1960) is a Syrian author and ophthalmologist. She has won the Abi Al Qassem Al Shabbi prize for her collections The Fallen (2000) and The Whore (2003).

Early life

Bitar was born in 1960 in Latakia, Syria.[1]

Career

Bitar is an ophthalmologist and surgeon who works at both Latakia Governmental Hospital and her private clinic.[2] She is a member of the Syrian Society of Story and Novel. She has been described as an "outspoken" novelist in The New Yorker[3] and has participated in public discussion forums about a variety of topics.[4]

According to Abir Hamdar, writing in The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature (2014), her work "repeatedly seeks to offer an insight into the gritty reality of women's lives in the Arab world", and her novels and short stories "focus on tragic female characters who suffer social and psychological injury either at the hands of men or because of their own misplaced ideals and aspirations."[5]: 113  Her 2004 book Imraʾa min Hadtha al-ʿAsr features the protagonist Maryam and her experience with breast cancer, with her unsuccessful relationships with men in the background, and became the subject of wide criticism for its inclusion of taboo subjects, including female sexuality.[5]: 114  Her novel A Woman of Fifty has a middle-aged protagonist who engages a lover, who according to Samira Aghacy, writing in Ageing in the Modern Arabic Novel, "despises older women" and has an attitude that "reveals the 'double standard of ageing' since society is permissive of sexual activity in older men, but more severe and fanatical when it comes to the older women's sexuality."[6]: 75 

Her novel One-Winged Eagle has a male protagonist, a doctor named Karim with financial difficulties despite his profession, which according to Lovisa Berg writing in Masculinity and Syrian Fiction: Gender, Society and the Female Gaze, "contrasts the pressure Karim puts on himself with the demands his sister places on men in general to provide for her."[7]: 96  In The Abbaseen Basement, the protagonist is the daughter Khulud, who "decides to take revenge on all men because of what her father has done to her mother."[7]: 85 

Honors and awards

Bitar was twice awarded the Abi Al Qassem Al Shabbi prize in Tunisia for her collections The Fallen (2000)[8] and The Whore (2003).[9][10]

Literary works

  • Imraʾa min Hadtha al-ʿAsr (English: A Woman of this Modern Age), Saqi Books 2004, ISBN 1855166259 [11][12][13]
  • The Whore, 2003[14]
  • Dajeej El Jassad, Arab Scientific Publishers, 2006, ISBN 9789953291406
  • Women with locks, Arab Scientific Publishers, 2008, ISBN 978-9953874852
  • Bleeding dreams, Arab Scientific Publishers, 2009, ISBN 978-9953878881
  • Love Struck (short story)[10]
  • A Woman of Fifty, دار الساقي للطباعة والنشر, ISBN 9786144257098
  • Journal of a Divorce[15][16]
  • One Winged Eagle, Arab Scientific Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-9953879291

References

  1. ^ "Haifa` Bitar". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Haifa BITAR | The International Writing Program". iwp.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  3. ^ Habib, Shahnaz (February 17, 2009). "The Gulf". The New Yorker. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  4. ^ Al Lawati, Abbas (February 27, 2009). "Internet globalises Arabic literature". Gulf News. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  5. ^ a b Hamdar, Abir (2014). The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature. Syracuse University Press. pp. 113–120. ISBN 9780815652908. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  6. ^ Aghacy, Samira (2020). Ageing in the Modern Arabic Novel. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474466783. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  7. ^ a b Berg, Lovisa (2021). Masculinity and Syrian Fiction Gender, Society and the Female Gaze. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780755637638. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  8. ^ "9 Short Stories by Syrian Women, in Translation". ArabLit. 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2022 – via Gale.
  9. ^ "Haifa BITAR | The International Writing Program". iwp.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  10. ^ a b Bitar, Haifa (April 1, 2014). "Love Struck". Guernica. Retrieved 21 April 2022. translated from the Arabic by Hannah Benninger
  11. ^ "Banipal (UK) Magazine of Modern Arab Literature - Book Reviews - A Woman of This Modern Age". Banipal. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  12. ^ Aghacy, Samira (May 2016). "Reviews: The Female Suffering Body: Illness and Disability in Modern Arabic Literature". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 48 (2): 390–392. doi:10.1017/S0020743816000167 – via ProQuest.
  13. ^ Hamdar, Abir (Feb 2019). "Between Representation and Reality: Disabled Bodies in Arabic Literature". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 51 (1): 127–130. doi:10.1017/S0020743818001186 – via ProQuest.
  14. ^ "Haifa BITAR | The International Writing Program". iwp.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  15. ^ The Arabic Classroom: Context, Text and Learners. (2019). United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. p117
  16. ^ مصرية (Adel), إيمان عادل-صحافية (Eman) (2020-07-05). "When I Booked a Seat in the Divorced Women's Club | Daraj". daraj.com. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
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