Mahmoud Messadi

{{Short description|Tunisian author and government official (1911–2004)}} {{Infobox person | name = Mahmoud Messadi | occupation = Novelist and intellectual | birth_place = Tazarka, Tunisia | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1911|01|28}} | death_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2004|12|16|1911|01|28}} | native_name = {{nobold|محمود المسعدي}} | native_name_lang = ar | image = محمود المسعدي (cropped).jpg | caption = Messadi in 1978 }} '''Mahmoud Messadi''' ({{langx|aeb|محمود المسعدي}}; 28 January 1911<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2014-10-19|title=محمود المسعدي|trans-title=Mahmoud Messadi|url=https://www.aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/icons/2014/10/19/محمود-المسعدي|access-date=2021-03-04|website=www.aljazeera.net|language=ar}}</ref>– 16 December 2004) was a Tunisian author and intellectual who also served as Minister of Education and Minister of Culture. Also, he is a prominent Tunisian novelist.

==Life and education==

Messadi was born in Tazarka, Nabeul Governorate, Tunisia. His education began in the village Quranic school, where he memorized part of the Qur’an before starting primary school in Korba.

He then completed high school in the Sadiqi Institute in Tunis in 1933. In the same year, he enrolled at the Sorbonne University in Paris to study Arabic language and literature.<ref name=":0" /> He graduated in 1936 and then began preparing his first PhD dissertation on Abu Nuwas, as well as a second on the rhythm of classical Arabic poetry. He finished the first dissertation, but the Second World War prevented him from defending it.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=الرياحي|first=كمال|date=2012-07-15|title=محمود المسعدي أيقونة السرد التونسي|language=Arabic|trans-title=Mahmoud Messadi: An Icon of Tunisian Prose|work=Aljazeera|url=https://www.aljazeera.net/news/cultureandart/2012/7/15/محمود-المسعدي-أيقونة-السرد-التونسي|access-date=2021-03-04}}</ref> The second was later published in Arabic and French.<ref name=":2" /> He started teaching at the Islamic Studies center in Paris in 1952.<ref name=":0" />

== Career in government == In addition to teaching at universities in both Tunisia and France, Messadi was involved in politics. He assumed responsibility for educational affairs in the National Independence Movement, thereby supporting the fight against French colonialism. He also played a leadership role in the teachers' union.<ref name=":2" />

Messadi participated in the negotiations with France for Tunisia's independence in 1955.<ref name=":0" /> Following independence, he served as a member of parliament from 1959 until 1981. He was the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies from 1981 to 1986.<ref name=":0" />

Messadi worked with Tunisia's first president, Habib Bourguiba, on education policy.<ref name=":5" /> He serve as Bourgiba's minister of education from 1958–1968 and as minister of culture from 1973–1976. This era in Tunisia was known for far-reaching educational reforms under the newly independent government, and many of these policies came to be known as the "Messaadi plan."<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Masri |first=Safwan M. |title=Tunisia : an Arab anomaly |date=2017 |isbn=978-0-231-54502-0 |location=New York |pages=245, 249 |oclc=974992445}}</ref> Among the core tenets of this plan was an expansion of primary school education.<ref name=":5" />

In addition to these responsibilities, Messadi worked with UNESCO and Alexo as well as the Arabic Language Academy in Jordan.<ref name=":0" />

== Literary career == Messadi established two magazines: ''al-Mabahith'' (Investigations) and ''al-Hiyaat al-Thiqaafiyya'' (Cultural Life), which is still issued by the Ministry of Culture.<ref name=":1" />

Messadi wrote his important works between 1939 and 1947. These works reveal the Qur'anic influence on his intellectual and belief formation and his style. His works also reveal his knowledge of the work of Muslim thinkers of various eras, and especially the ancient Arab literature that had interested him since high school. His speciality was his ability to combine this knowledge of the rich Arabo-Islamic tradition with his extensive knowledge of Western literature and philosophy, particularly French.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

One of his most influential works, ''al-Sudd'' ('The dam'), was written in 1940 but not published until 1955.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Allen|first=Roger|title=The Arabic Novel: An introduction and critical history (2nd ed.)|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=1995|location=Syracuse, NY|pages=48–49}}</ref> The novel tells the story of Ghaylan and his wife Maymuna, who come upon a valley full of people who worship a goddess of drought named Sahhaba. Ghaylan decides to build the people a dam, to give them a reliable source of water and cure them of their superstitions, with disastrous results.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last1=Fontaine|first1=Jean|last2=Slama|first2=Mounir B. H.|date=1992|title=Arabic-Language Tunisian Literature (1956-1990)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3820405|journal=Research in African Literatures|volume=23|issue=2 |pages=183–193|jstor=3820405 }}</ref> This novel is recognized for "the extreme elegance of its language,"<ref name=":3" /> which is classical yet clear, as displayed in this work: "The high literary quality of ''Al-Sudd'' resides in its pristine clarity of expression, its stylistic echos of the Koran, and its skillful recuperation of Tunisian literary heritage."<ref name=":4" />

==Honours== * Grand Cross of the Order of Independence (Tunisia) * Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic (Tunisia) * Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of Tunisia * Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain) * Commander of the Ordre des Palmes académiques (France) * Commander of the Order of Intellectual Merit (Morocco)

==Works== *''Abu Hurairah Said'' (1939), translated to German in November 2009<ref name=":2">[http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/1837b4c2-da59-435a-bc62-ccf687e94516 Presentation of the book Abu Hurairah said in Aljazeera]</ref> *''The Dam'' (1955/1940), translated to German in October 2007 *''Birth of the Oblivion'' ({{Langx|ar|مولد النسيان|Maulid Annisyan}}, 1945), translated to French in 1993 and to German in 2008

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Messadi, Mahmoud}} Category:Alumni of Sadiki College Category:Culture ministers of Tunisia Category:Education ministers of Tunisia Category:Tunisian writers Category:1911 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Tunisia)