244:. This story was more controversial due to the element of adultery as an aspect of self-enlightenment. Its married heroine, Rasha, tries to find herself and regain control of her life through an extramarital relationship after being forced to prey a 30-year-old man at the age of fifteen. Her husband, Salim, approaches marriage as a business transaction, lacking emotion or compassion. Salim treats Rasha like an object and she expresses her frustration around this by saying, "Did you consider even for one day that this woman whom you had brought to supplement the furniture of your house was a human being? That she was a human being, who would a thousand times prefer your sharing of one idea of yours over your offering her the most delicious food" (39).
206:, and wrote angry stories in the 1950s about men and their selfishness. Khoury's career began in 1957 and has spanned more than 6 decades. Her literary career began with the publication of a collection of poems in French entitled "Vingt Ans" (Beirut, 1958). In it Khoury expressed her discontent with social constraints and the emptiness and aimlessness of her life; she also described her attempts to find salvation in love. Much of Khoury's work stemmed from her desire to avoid blatant retaliation; writing was the best and only way she could express herself. Khoury dedicated her work to immersing herself in the female psyche, particularly defending women's right to love. Khoury once said,
233:. Colette created a strong woman in her story whose love was not so overpowering that it blinded her or made her weak, in order to maintain the image of a strong, female leader. In the story, the protagonist and narrator, Rim, against society and her family, as she tries to develop her personal identity. While Rim's parents died when she was young and thus never could dominate her adult life, her father's domineering presence still haunts her after he has passed. Rim is also disgusted by the institution of marriage in its traditional form. In the story, she says forcefully,
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is known as a hero for his resistance to the French. In addition, her father had been minister for village and town affairs. Khoury was also very patriotic, as she wrote several collections of stories about the 1973 October War, also known as the
208:"Since I always felt the need to express what was welling up inside me...the need to protest, the need to scream...and since I didn't want to scream with a knife, I screamed with my fingers and became a writer."
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Two years later, she published "Layla wahida" (One night, 1961), which told a story about a night that the main character, Rasha, spent with a man who was a pilot in the French air force during
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Many of Khoury's stories covered topics like love and erotica, particularly from a female's perspective. Khoury has written more than 20 novels, as well as many political and literary articles.
235:"No! I was not born only to learn cooking and then to marry, bear children, and die! If this is the rule in my country, I will be the exception. I do not want to marry!"
124:
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Crosshatching in Global
Culture: A Dictionary of Modern Arab Writers: An Updated English Version of R.B. Campbell's Contemporary Arab Writers
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Khoury has been twice married and divorced to the
Spanish musician Rodrigo de Zayas, who is a grandson of American diplomat
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288:. Khoury and Zayas have one child, a daughter, Mercedes Nara de Zayas y Khoury. Khoury's youthful affair with Syrian poet
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221:(Days With Him) was the first time a woman had audaciously written about a subject considered taboo in conservative
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164:. Khoury's notability stirs from her work in politics and literature. Her work as a writer focuses on love and
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with a bachelor's degree in French literature and she received a diploma from the school of literature in
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486:. Translated by Mandy McClure. Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press. p. 68.
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with a novel in which she wrote openly about love; this breakthrough novel
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novelist and poet, born in 1931, who is also the granddaughter of former
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144:, also written as Kulit Khuri, Colette al al-Khuri, Colette Khuri) is a
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From 1990-1995, Colette Khoury served as an independent member of the
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Radwa Ashour; Ferial J. Ghazoul; Hasna Reda-Mekdashi, eds. (2008).
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parliament. In 2008, Khoury was appointed literary advisor to the
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508:"Colette Khoury, the Syrian novelist who pioneered Arab feminism"
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446:. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press. pp. 104–111.
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341:"Fī al-zawāyā-- ḥakāyā : tisʻ qiṣaṣ wa-masraḥīyah" (2003)
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Masculine
Identity in the Fiction of the Arab East Since 1967
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was inspired by a love affair with the legendary Syrian poet
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Colette was born into a notable family, as her grandfather,
338:"Sa-talmisu aṣābiʻī al-shams : qiṣṣah ramzīyah" (2002)
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Arab women novelists : the formative years and beyond
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Arab women writers a critical reference guide, 1873-1999
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344:"Kūlīt Khūrī : būḥ al-yāsmīn al-Dimashqī" (2008)
567:"Syrian Writer Named Literary Adviser to President"
335:"al-Marḥalah al-murrah : qiṣaṣ ṭawīlah" (2002)
272:on a broad range of political and literary issues.
534:"Colette Khoury: Come see Syria first, then judge"
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194:one of which was called "Luminous Days" (1984).
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72:Writer, Professor, Poet, Member of Parliament
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471:. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
347:"Wa-yabqá al-waṭan fawqa al-jamīʻ" (2010)
326:"al-Ayyām al-maḍīʼah : qiṣaṣ" (1984)
168:, a subject that was previously taboo in
437:
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418:. Duke University Press. pp. 42–47.
358:Syrian literature - Syrian women writers
600:. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
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332:"Imraʼah : majmūʻat qiṣaṣ" (2000)
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329:"Wa-marra ṣayf : riwāyah" (1985)
16:Syrian novelist and poet (born 1931)
598:Syria: 1920 to Present: Middle East
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532:Scott C. Davis (October 1, 2007).
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742:21st-century Syrian women writers
727:20th-century Syrian women writers
323:"Daʼwah ilá al-Qunayṭirah" (1976)
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314:"Dimashq baytī al-kabīr" (1970)
264:. She currently writes for the
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284:and the son of Mexican artist
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202:Khoury was a pioneer of Arab
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747:21st-century Syrian writers
737:20th-century Syrian writers
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52:1931 (age 92–93)
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722:20th-century women writers
442:Zeidan, Joseph T. (1995).
732:20th-century Syrian poets
627:".:Middle East Online:::"
213:In 1959, she shocked the
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292:inspired her 1961 novel
156:. Khoury graduated from
512:Syrian Arab News Agency
467:Aghacy, Samira (2011).
308:"Laylah wāḥidah" (1961)
282:Francis Burton Harrison
268:governmental newspaper
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712:20th-century novelists
687:Syrian women novelists
571:Middle East Online Web
414:Cooke, Miriam (2007).
320:"Wa-marra ṣayf" (1975)
702:Writers from Damascus
596:Casey, James (2012).
305:"Ayyām maʻah" (1961)
656:Library of Congress
381:Arab Cultural Trust
158:Damascus University
102:Damascus University
717:Syrian women poets
697:Syrian Christians
317:"Qiṣṣatān" (1972)
170:Syrian literature
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248:Political career
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633:on 2016-03-23
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659:. Retrieved
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227:Ayyam Maahou
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219:Ayyam Maahou
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707:1937 births
548:27 December
294:Ayyām maʻah
77:Nationality
29:Native name
676:Categories
637:2014-10-06
518:2024-04-11
391:2014-10-06
364:References
260:President
215:Arab world
181:Early life
142:كوليت خوري
69:Occupation
41:كوليت خوري
661:6 October
581:6 October
270:Al-Ba'ath
225:society.
116:Relatives
87:Education
352:See also
204:feminism
127:, father
90:B.A. in
59:Damascus
55:Bab Tuma
166:erotica
490:
450:
266:Syrian
258:Syrian
254:Syrian
237:(22)
223:Syrian
162:Beirut
150:Syrian
146:Syrian
138:Arabic
81:Syrian
37:Arabic
63:Syria
663:2014
583:2014
550:2010
488:ISBN
448:ISBN
176:Life
49:Born
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