Mueen Bsissu: Palestinian Playwright

Mueen Bsissu Palestinian Playwright Admer Gouryh Mueen Bsissu, the renowned Palestinian poet, playwright and essayist, was born in Gaza, Palestine in 1930. He attended high school in Gaza, and went to study at the American University of Cairo where he obtained a B.A. in English literature in 1952. The same year, his first collection of poetry, entitled The Battle, appeared. He taught English for a few years in Gaza and Baghdad. Bsissu has always been known for his commitment to the cause of his people . His ardent support of nationalist and leftist movements protesting the settlement of Palestinians in the Sinai in 1955 and his campaign against internationalizing Gaza after being evacuated by Israel in 1956 exposed him to endless harassment, persecution and imprisonment. From March 1955 to July 1957, he was in jail in Egypt. (Gaza was then under Egyptian mandate.) In April of 1959, he, along with other Palestinian intellectuals, was arrested by Egyptian authorities for criticizing Egypt's Gaza policies. He was kept in prison until March 1963. During these turbulent years, Bsissu published his second collection of poetry, When the Stones Rain (1957). His third book of poetry, Palestine in the Heart, appeared in 1965. After the rise of the Palestinian resistance in 1965 and Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, Bsissu was expelled from Gaza. Since then he has been living in exile, travelling between Beirut, Cairo, Damascus and Tunis. In 1970 he published his fourth book of poetry, The Booklet of Palestine. His memoir, Descent into the Water, appeared first in Beirut in 1978 and its English translation was published in the U.S. in 1981. His other publications include six plays, some of which have been produced in Egypt, Morocco and other Arab states. 92 Bsissu visited the United States in 1978, and read his poetry on several campuses. Bsissu's poetry is rich in visual images drawn from the collective memory of his people who are either living under occupation or in exile. Yearning for the lost land is reflected in images associated with the world of nature that Palestinian people still recall and cherish, that is, the olive trees, the orange and lemon orchards, the vineyards and the sea. However, Bsissu stresses that reunion with the homeland does not materialize through wishful thinking , but through the act of redemption. So, we also see metaphors associated with the world of force, will and collective action. Above all, there is a warm call for organized challenge often personified by the martyr or the resistance fighter. The historical process is the focus of Bsissu's drama. In each of his plays, he dramatizes the concrete living forces that shape and determine the direction of human history. The contradictions between social and political realities constitute the dramatic conflict. Thus the conflict here is neither metaphysical (that is, between God and man) nor psychological (that is, between the individual and his inner self). Even when Bsissu presents a hero or heroine, his individual is part of a collective or representative of the interests of a certain class, and his struggle is that of his class or collective. An anthology of his plays published (in Arabic) in 1979 includes The Tragedy of Che Guevara, al-Zunj Revolution, Samson and Delilah, The Rock, The Birds Build Their Nests Between Fingers, and The Trial of the Book: Kalila and Dumna. Admer Gouryh teaches Arabic in the Middle East Studies Program at Fordham University. 93 ...