Gaeb Tuma Farman
Baghdad remembers ‘the pioneer of the Iraqi novel’
BAGHDAD– The Al-Mada Foundation for Culture and Arts, in collaboration with the German Goethe-Institut, held a session on Friday to commemorate the late Iraqi literary figure, novelist Gaeb Tuma Farman. The event was attended by writers, novelists, and a diverse audience, featuring discussions about the “pioneer of the Iraqi novel” of the 1950s.
Gaeb Tuma Farman, a renowned Iraqi novelist, was born in the Murabba neighborhood of Baghdad in 1927 and passed away in Moscow in 1990. His literary works attracted the attention of both Arab and international critics.
Farman is credited with inventing the “Iraqi novel.” His novel “The Palm Tree and the Neighbors” is considered one of the most significant Arab literary works and is regarded as the first modern Iraqi novel that meets European standards of the genre.
Speaking with 964media, the novelist Khedir Flaih Al-Zaidi, elaborated on the character of Farman, “I wouldn’t say he was introverted, but he was shy and often felt awkward when speaking to others, which was intertwined with a sense of pride.”
“In Iraq, we have many great writers whose personal lives remain largely unknown, including Farman, who spent many years in exile. His life was filled with undiscovered drama related to his illness and travels between countries like Syria, China, and Russia for book translations requested by publishing houses,” he added.
There is no memorial for Farman in Iraq, yet a Russian university honors him with a statue at its entrance, recognizing the nearly 30 years he spent in Russia, he added.
Lahai Abdul Hussein, professor of sociology, stated, “One of the most important books published about his life is by Dr. Ahmed Al-Numan, which is a collection of studies featuring articles by researchers on Farman, including his correspondence with Hadi Al-Alawi and the relationship between these two significant figures.”
Hadi Al-Alawi, was a renowned Iraqi thinker, was born in Baghdad in 1932. Following his graduation, Al-Alawi left Iraq, initially moving to China and later to Syria, where he lived until his death in 1998. Al-Alawi’s academic interests were diverse, spanning Islamic and Chinese philosophy, history, and language.
“We can describe Gaeb Tuma Farman as the ‘Communist Baghdadi.’ For him, communism was a humanitarian stance rather than a partisan organizational one. He didn’t write in a propagandistic manner; instead, he had the intellectual capacity to record the lives and sufferings of people,” Abdul Hussein concluded.
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